Bowling To My Heart
by whollistic8and8hopeless
Summary: modern EC. Christine has a rare heart condition that compels her to engage in sports for her health. Erik is the enigmatic bowling technician smitten by her. Can Erik control himself enough to keep her? R&R to find out! Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

This plot has been formulating in my mind for quite sometime now…put together my favorites: bowling + POTO fanfic!!

I don't know if I wanna make this a one shot…but it seems my plot is too large or something for a one-timer...

Here it goes hope you like it for whatever it is

I don't own any of the POTO references here

oh btw, a got some info abt chopin from so i don't own that either

Pls read and review dear fanfickers

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­­­Christine Daae sat in the front row of Mr. Leventhal's class-Music Appreciation, mind in a state of reverie. She thoroughly enjoyed music in its entirety, but she felt like she had to be somewhere else at that moment.

"Ms. Daae?" Mr. Leventhal asked Christine who was staring at the whiteboard, tapping her Pilot pen on her binder.

Twitched back into reality, Christine looked at her college professor and offered a blank expression for an answer.

"I asked, Ms. Daae," Mr. Leventhal started impatiently, "What was the style that Chopin used to play his music?"

"Sir, he used Clementi's piano method with his own students," Christine started, reciting what she knew by heart.

"But he was also influenced by Hummel's development of virtuoso, yet Mozartian, piano technique."

Mr. Leventhal gave a curt nod to acknowledge her answer.

"That's what I wanted to hear, Ms. Daae." Christine waited to be praised further, sitting up a bit.

"I don't assume you are deaf, as you are a Music Major so I expect you to answer my questions the first time you hear them. Lest your course be but a mere pun to your disability." With that, he turned to the other side of the room to address a student who asked a question.

People around Christine sniggered and she felt her cheeks burn. Meg, her best friend, nudged her with an elbow on Christine's arm and she smiled in reassurance.

Meg was older than Christine by months, who miraculously was at the top of her class but always sat in trance during her classes.

At least the only subjects that were important in Christine's program at University Caro were Music Appreciation and General Logic and Philosophies. These were subjects she effortlessly excelled in.

After Mr. Leventhal gave out assignments, the class dispersed and Christine and Meg lazily flopped out of the classroom.

"Christine, I've got loads of homework!" Meg grunted. "I think I have to space on our weekly malling escapades," they walked down the stairs leading to the main hall of the music building.

"it's fine, Meg. I have to finish my five thousand-word essay for English," Christine groaned back.

"'Summarize the epic Beowulf and present a factual literary essay supported by noted research and references to the epic.'" Christine said, copying the way her old English professor spoke so slowly.

Meg held her stomach and burst into laughter. Christine didn't know what was so funny about it but she laughed along anyway. Meg's laughter was always contagious.

They laughed all the way to the parking lot where Meg's silver Vios was waiting for them.

"Oh my baby! Did you miss me?" Meg exaggerated. Her parents bought her the car for her 19th birthday.

Christine smiled at Meg's funny personality. She was an eccentric person but had a deep heart.

They strapped themselves into the car, and Meg twisted her body so that she can see behind the car. They eased out of the parking slot.

Christine leaned comfortably against the passenger seat and closed her eyes…it had been an exhausting day for her…she tried to relax her body before an unexpected jolt from behind the car made it skid forward.

Their bodies jerked forward and instinctively Christine held her chest. She had a rare condition where her heart would palpitate and her heart beat would slow down at many times. It wasn't concluded yet whether the condition was fatal or curable.

"Shit! Dammit, who the hell was that?!" Meg cursed, unbuckling her seat belt, and facing Christine, worry drawn on her face.

Christine waited for her heartbeat to return to its normal pacing which wasn't really constant but allowed her to live, at least

"I-I'm fine, Meg," Christine breathed. "Let's go see who that idiot was,"

Meg wasn't contented with her answer but decided to just leave it for now. Her next concerns were her poor car, and the driver who bumped it.

She got out of the car and started her rant.

"You idiot! Don't you look both ways before driving out in the parking lot?! Didn't you see a bright and shiny silver car right behind your SUV?!" she spit out the last words, as the driver got out of his car and walked towards the two ladies.

The driver was a man, as old as Meg, possibly older. His short, spiked blond hair complimenting his face structure. He had a pointed nose and deep set eyes of blue. He was much taller than the girls and a strong torso and toned arms supported his height.

"I'm sorry," he said, holding up his big hands in a gesture that could be interpreted into 'please-don't-kill-me-I-didn't-mean-it'.

"I'll be happy to pay for the damages to your car. I was on the phone you see, I was checking in on my niece who is in the hospital right now."

Meg was still sporting an outraged look but it seemed to fade into an expression of understanding and sympathy for this handsome man. Yes, his looks didn't swing by Meg too easily.

"I'm sorry," the guy added, oblivious to the fact that he was already forgiven for his looks and concern alone.

Christine was leaning against the car, just watching the sparks flying between the two people.

She eyed the huge dent of Meg's car and winced at the ugly sight.

"It's okay. Just make sure that this trunk _does_ get fixed or my parents are gonna kill _me!_" Meg said, the guy confused about her sudden change of feeling.

"Oh of course! If you'd like I'll have it towed right now. I can give you guys a lift to your destination, too." He said, his nervousness diffusing into sweat beading on his forehead.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellular phone. He dialed a number and spoke.

"Hi, this is Raoul Chanery, I'm requesting for a tow truck to come here at my university…" he continued to give details while Meg looked at Christine and gave her a silent 'wow'. Christine giggled.

"…I'm sorry, can I have your name, miss?" he covered the receiver with this hand and leaned towards Meg.

"Marguerite Giry," she replied, "But you can call me Meg," she added, blushing slightly.

Raoul smiled and moved his attention to the man he was speaking with.

It was some time before he hung up and turned to the girls.

"Oh hi, I didn't get your name," he was referring to Christine who was the farthest from them both.

"Christine, Christine Daae," she replied, conscious of the awkward silence that enveloped the company after that statement.

"Well, maybe we should hop into my car, it's pretty hot out here and I can turn my AC on." Raoul motioned the girls to his car who looked at each other in question.

"Oh! No, don't worry, I'm not gonna rape you guys or something. God no!" he said, realizing why the girls were hesitant.

It seemed to be enough to convince Meg and Christine and they climbed into the car. Raoul turned the AC on and moved the vents so that it was pointed to the girls.

"So what are you guys majoring in?" Raoul beamed, encouraging conversation.

"I'm a music major, specializing in Philosophies of Music, and Meg here is enrolled in the fine arts," Christine said, speaking for them both. Meg seemed at a loss for words.

"And yourself?" Christine added as a follow-up question.

"Oh, me?" He didn't seem to be aware that he would be asked in return.

"I'm a business major. I'm studying to take over my family's business in the future. Stocks, are what it is, baby!" he replied with enthusiasm.

They talked more about their courses until a tow truck came around the curb and stopped in front of the Vios.

He hitched up Meg's car and told them that the car would be ready in a couple weeks. They watched the driver take the car with him, and Meg's expression saddened.

They got back into Raoul's car and told him that their condo was a couple blocks off campus.

They rode in silence save for the whirring and revving of the engine. His car endured minor scratches and dents on its backside but it wasn't obvious because of the dark red of the paint.

They got to the condo and they exchanged goodbyes. Raoul told them that he'd better get going because his niece would be looking for him.

Meg and Christine walked up to their condo and shut the door behind them.

"Ahhh! He is so cute!" Meg giggled, almost forgetting the damage that had been done to her car.

Christine removed her shoulder bag and flopped onto the couch, exhausted because of the long day.

"Yeah sure," she said dreamily.

"Did you take your pills, C?" Meg asked while moving into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Christine sat up and dug into her shoulder bag for a small bottle with tiny pills inside. She got one pill and tossed it into her mouth shuddering at what awful taste such a little pill could have.

Forgetting about dinner and anything else, Christine drifted off to sleep on the couch. The last thing she heard Meg say was that she had a doctor's appointment the next day.

just a short intro! sorry, no bowling or Erik yet...we'll get to that. :) i just wanted a clear(yet indirect) depiction of Meg and Christine's college life...and hey! Raoul is there...chapter two a-coming...


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the kind reviews, guys. Really, they were touching ….so Christine finally decides to go bowling…she meets Erik now, YAY! And there isn't any mention of RAOUL here either, so yeah :D

Oh yeah, the activities of Erik and Christine are like simultaneous so they happen during the same day (obviously…)

I don't own any of the POTO references in this humble fanfic of mine

Oh and Gameworx is an actual bowling alley where I go to every week.

Pls read and review dear fanfickers…

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"Hey, Destler! We got a ball stuck over on lane 13!" shouted the lane manager at a man far away on one of the benches near the locker rooms.

Reluctantly, Erik Destler marked the page of a music magazine that he was reading. He'd return to that page when he would get back from fixing the technical circumstance that outraged the bowling player on that lane.

He walked up to the customer and tried to ease her frustration using his unmistakable charisma.

"I'm sorry ma'am. Ball-stucks are normal on the bowling alley. I'll get right on to fix it and I hope you enjoy the rest of your game." He said with a smile, hoping that the red-haired, thirty-something woman wouldn't notice the mask that he wore on the right side of his face.

The woman gawked at him for a moment, but was taken aback at how polite and respectful the man was. She seemed to assume that the mask mirrored his assumed inward personality.

After another moment of awkwardness, Erik moved away from the lane and headed towards the end-wing of the wide bowling stadium where the door there would lead to the machines of each of the bowling alleys.

He disliked going there for the noise of the generators of each of the alley machines was enough to make an airplane sound like quiet gurgling.

He moved swiftly, looking for the backside of lane thirteen. After a long time of working at the bowling stadium, and hauling the stuck bowling balls out of the suction sockets, he learned to leap up onto the rafters with a light spring on his feet.

He reached down and nudged the ten-pound ball into the conveyor belt, being careful not to get his hands stuck on the turbine and risk the dirty oil messing up his slender fingers.

Once the ball moved along the belt, returning to its owner, he climbed down the rafters and headed back to his usual post near the locker rooms where he would read his music magazine in isolation.

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"Christine? Honey, wake up. I've got breakfast ready for you. Your appointment is at ten-thirty remember?" whispered Meg, gently resurrecting Christine from her deep and somber sleep.

Christine droopily opened her eyes, one eyelid after the other, and muttered a few words, still embracing the throw pillow of the couch she was lying on and cuddling into the cotton blanket that wrapped around her.

"Whaa? What time is it?"

"Just after nine,"

With that, Christine jolted up from the couch and ran to the bathroom, shouting a thank you to Meg for waking her up. Meg heard her slam the bathroom door and smiled.

It was close to ten o'clock when Christine was fully prepared for the day—and for her doctor's appointment. It was mandatory for her that when she visited the doctor, she wasn't supposed to eat anything that would disrupt the beating of her heart, or give her light heart burn. She conformed to drinking just a glass of water to gulp down her icky pill.

It was a Saturday so the streets of Glendale were naturally packed with people needing to go some places. Meg, a skilled driver, easily avoided the morning rush by taking shortcuts and loops in abandoned streets. They reached Glendale Medical Hospital in less than twenty minutes.

Meg had plans that day, so she verified with Christine if she had a ride home after her appointment. With a nod from Christine, she watched Meg drive off of the loading dock at the mouth of the hospital and disappear around the curb.

Christine wasn't really an outgoing person, but she wasn't socially retarded either. She was just reserved and kept to herself most of the time unlike Meg who almost always spoke too much, agreeing to one thing she said and contradicting another.

Christine already knew where her doctor's room was: fifth floor, room 509, Dr. Andres. She used the elevator and when she got to the floor, she sat down on one of the waiting chairs that lined the white-tiled hallway. The strong fluorescent lights and the bright tiles made Christine's eyes burn.

She waited in the hallway for sometime before the secretary called her into the room. Christine sat at the patient's seat, just across from the doctor's table and desk. A medical bed with drawers along its sides was placed on the far right of the room. She waited some more for her doctor, which was already in the office, for she could hear low voices conversing.

"Ah, Miss Daae, glad you came in for a check-up," Dr. Andres said brightly as he walked into the room, with a clip board in hand.

He was well into his forties, with streaks of white mixed into his black hair. His age wasn't so noticeable because he rarely frowned, showing his white, angular teeth which Christine took to be veneers.

"Yeah, I haven't been feeling so good lately. The palpitations are getting more and more chronic," Christine said with honesty. She really wasn't feeling good, and she couldn't pinpoint the reason why. She was taking her medicine and eating as prescribed.

"Uh huh. How many times a day would you be experiencing these palpitations?" he asked, genuinely concerned, "would you life your blouse a little bit please?" he added, a stethoscope ready in his right hand.

Christine obliged, pulling her shirt up to her midriff and allowing his hand to move up to her chest so that he could hear her heartbeat. She cringed at the shocking coldness of the stethoscope and twitched slightly.

"Breathe in for me, please," Dr. Andres said quietly, already observing her heart beat by moving the receiver to different but precise parts on her chest.

He murmured some 'm hmms' before removing the receiver from Christine's chest and moving to his desk in front of Christine.

"Well, your heart does seem to be 'jumping' up a bit even though your activities are almost passive. With your rare condition, I _will_ have to do some tests," he started, acting more professional than earlier.

"What sort of tests?" Christine inquired, imagining needles and cold steel beds. She blinked the image from her mind.

"Well, some MIRs, to see if you condition has anything to do with your brain activity as well, although this is just a precautionary standard. I hardly think that this is related to your cranium.

Some blood tests, of course, to make sure that your platelet, white, and red counts are in order. I'd just like to make sure that this condition isn't affected by blood, or else it would make my job a little bit harder," he said, chuckling at some points during his spiel, but sounding concerned throughout.

"Oh! And right now, we can start on an EKG sonogram to test your heartbeat."

They moved to the bed where he asked Christine to lie down. He strapped a Velcro wrap with some wires onto Christine's slender arm and began to stick some wires onto her chest and arms. He rolled a machine next to the bed and switched it on.

The test didn't last long, and soon Dr. Andres removed the wires from her body and asked her to sit down on the chair.

"Well, I won't have the full report of your test by today, but I will have them by next week. For now, I strongly recommend that you involve yourself in some well, leisure sports to begin with. We need to get your heartbeat back to normal, Miss Daae and a good sport will help you," Dr. Andres began his prescription.

"What sports do you suggest?" Christine asked.

"Well, definitely not chess," he laughed heartily at his own joke, " but there's light swimming, golf, or bowling. Take your pick."

Christine contemplated on her choices. Her skin rejected the sun, so swimming was out of the question. Golf was almost impossible because the nearest course was an hour away depending on traffic.

Bowling seemed like a good idea, she never played it before so it'd be a learning experience. Plus, the Gameworx bowling stadium was fifteen minutes from her condo. It would be fun, Christine thought.

"Well, I think bowling would be great for me, I've never played it before so it should be nice." Christine decided.

"Well, that's great then! I always enjoyed bowling myself. Are you doing anything this afternoon? Why not stop by the alleyways and get yourself fitted for shoes and a ball?" Dr. Andres suggested.

"I'll do that,"

They said their goodbyes, and Dr. Andres scheduled another appointment on Wednesday, same time.

Christine walked out of the hospital with an optimistic mindset. She was going to play bowling to get her heart back into shape. Little did she know that she would get more that she bargained for.

"Yeah, I know, it's weird. But I'm really doing it!" Christine spoke into the receiver of the public payphone. She was talking with Meg who was at a coffee shop, doing some homework.

"C, that's great news! I'm happy for you! I hope it works for you, you know?" she replied, the signal crackling in the phone.

"Hey Meg, I'm hangin' up now, you're breaking up. I'm going to visit the bowling place, now. See you back at the condo, okay?" Christine had to shout the last few things she said because the signal was getting really choppy.

She hung up the phone and heard the coin jingle deeper into the machine. She slipped out of the phone booth and headed for Earling St., where Gameworx was located at.

It was a very big building with a giant sign that read 'Gameworx' and a bowling pin tipping at the end of 'x'. She braced herself before entering through the swing doors.

As if stepping through a warp hole, she was swept by the energy that hung heavily in the air of the stadium. There were 36 lanes and all but one was occupied. Constant crashing of ball against pin rang out in the room and excited yells answered them.

'80s hip music was playing and the bass was thumping against Christine's chest. She quickly remembered her mission and moved to the customer service desk that was manned by a scrawny man with a thick beard.

"Can I help you, Miss?" he grunted, but it was his natural way of speaking.

"Uh, yeah, I'd like to enroll for some bowling lessons? You know, the works," she said trying to avoid the hideous pun that she just made.

"All right, sure. I'll get someone to teach you," he said, being more customer-friendly.

They talked more on billing arrangements and Christine never knew that there was more to bowling than ten pins. There were locker arrangements, wristers to be fitted into, shoes, finger tape, the bowling ball, and a lot more. The price for the package was reasonable and she found that she could pay for it and her monthly budget would be affected much.

He led her to the shop where all the bowling gear was and shouted for someone. She looked at all the shoes, the shirts, and finally gazed in awe at the bowling balls that we lined on the wall. She didn't even notice the door bell jingle and a man step inside.

"Excuse me, Miss? I was asked to assist you with your bowling gear and a few lessons." Said the man who wore a strange mask, but that wasn't what caught Christine's attention.

She felt her heart flutter and she was positive that it wasn't because of her condition.

"Hi," she breathed.

He smiled.

HA HA! i am terribly sorry, i just couldn't resist a good cliffie...but i did promise that they'd meet! and they did! i'm sorry again...haha


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three is up! thank you guys for the reviews and everything. Arah, lol you reviews are wonderful..

so this chapter is all about the meeting of Erik and dear Christine...will she tell him about her heart condition? will he open up about his mask? hmmmm...

more gameworx reference...and i do not own the POTO references here either

pls read and review, dear fanfickers...

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_Oh god I hope he can't see me blush._

_She's so beautiful._

_Why is he smiling at me like that?_

_Why is she staring at me like that? My mask is bothering her…_

"So were you looking at some bowling balls?" Erik asked, thinking that the girl didn't hear what he said when he walked through the door.

Balls... "Y-yes, I'm planning to take up bowling, so I'll need some stuff I think," Christine managed to blurt out. She played with the tips of her fingers, a sign of nervousness which she inherited from her mother.

Walking closer to her so that they can communicate better, Erik felt goose bumps rising on his arms. He hoped that the girl wouldn't notice.

"Can I get your name, Miss?"

"Christine. Christine Daae"

"Christine. I'm Erik Destler, the go-to guy here at Gameworx"

"Hi."

He laughed a deep, but hearty "ha-ha". He moved to the counter that was situated at the corner of the small shop. He brought out a piece of paper and a pencil and began to write down some details.

"Your last name is spelled as 'D-A-A-E', am I right?" he asked, looking up at her with his emerald orbs that were striking under the bright fluorescent lights. This place must suck up a lot of electricity, Christine thought.

Christine nodded in reply and followed him to the counter. She laid her shoulder bag on it and leaned with her elbows. He looked down to write some more details and Christine couldn't help but ponder over the white leather mask that Mr. Destler wore. What could possibly be hidden under that enigma?

Erik felt the weight of Christine's stare and bent down to retrieve a plastic circle with different sizes of more circles lining its edge. Christine could only imagine that it was to measure her fingers.

Erik held it up to her and hesitantly reached over for her right hand. Her hand was small and smooth under his cool, bowling-weathered fingers. He slipped her middle finger into one of the smaller holes but it didn't fit quite right, so he performed the same routine for other circles until the size was chosen.

While Erik was busy with measuring her fingers, Christine continued to gaze at his bent head. The lighting caused his sharp jaw to be further outlined in shadow. Erik looked up and their eyes met. He smiled a crooked smile and Christine returned it with a shy grin.

"Well, I've got your measurements ready," Erik said with his tenor voice. "Now, I need to know your weight so that we can figure out how heavy your ball should be. You see, a bowling ball has to be 10 percent of your total body weight. I'm guessing you don't weigh much so finding a ball for you would be easier."

Erik stopped talking and wished he could take his last statement back it sounded rude out loud, but Christine didn't seem to notice because she was already eyeing some of the balls.

"I'm a hundred and ten, so I'm guessing my ball should be eleven pounds?" Christine guffawed and wanted to mentally kick herself for acting like a geek in front of…him.

"Oh that's great actually because we just got an 11-pounder a week ago from the Brunswick Arena over in North America. It's a pretty neat ball; I hope you like green?" he said moving over to another side of the shop, hauling a small carton box with a stamp of a B with a crown inside facing Christine.

"Green is fine," that was an understatement. Christine loved green; almost all of her things were green. If she had a color choice for something she bought, she'd always choose green.

Erik then brought out a metallic green sphere that sparkled under the garish lights. It was beautiful.

Without thinking, Christine moved to Erik and touched the ball all over and accidentally brushed her ivory hand over his and they looked up at each other. Christine blushed.

"I can have this done by Tuesday, most probably." With that he placed the ball back inside its box and inconspicuously moved his hand over where Christine had touched him and it set butterflies in his stomach.

"Oh that's fine. Uhm, I will need some shoes and other stuff right?" Christine said, noticing that he had placed his hand over the other, right where she had touched him.

"Yeah actually, what's your shoe size?" he said not looking at her for he had looked down at Christine's record that he was writing in.

"8, sometimes 8 and ½," she said.

"Well we got a pair of 8s. Its dark green, so it'll match your ball." He said with a grin. Then he moved to the showcase glass and pulled out a pair of green and white traditional bowling shoes. He moved to Christine and knelt at her feet.

After she realized that he was going to help her put the shoes on, she quietly slipped out of her brown 'ballet' shoes and began to insert her left foot into the left shoe. He helped her of course, by stretching the tongue and widening the foot hole. It took a little push to get her foot in, so he held her lean calf.

Chills went up Christine's spine at his touch on her bare skin. She was wearing pedal pushers so her pale skin was revealed below the knees and down.

He fitted her into other equipment which lasted another twenty minutes or so. Then he calculated the costs and showed her the price. It was reasonable for all the stuff she bought, but from then on, she would have to cut her frequent stop at the bookstore.

"So when are you available? My sched is open every afternoon so you can drop by for a couple hours of practice after school." He asked, already done ringing everything up.

"Well, I suppose I can come everyday. I'll just tell you the day before if I won't be available for practice." Christine said, speaking her thoughts, and thinking about her appointments.

"That's alright, I guess….May I ask you something?" he said, lowering his neck so that his face would be leveled with hers.

Christine gave a small nod and he proceeded.

"How did you get interested in bowling? Please don't be offended but you don't really seem the type to be playing a sport like this. It _is_ a relaxing sport, but a girl with your…body might find something more interesting to do." he glanced down at her as he said 'body', totally noticing her flat stomach but full chest.

Christine knew what he was talking about. How could a scrawny little girly be interesting in a sport like this? I'm not even sexy, Christine thought. Then she debated over whether or not she should tell him about her condition. She didn't want to look like more that the freak she already was so she decided not to. Besides, he was only her teacher.

"I walk down Earling St. everyday when I come home from school and I always wondered about this place. It seemed so intriguing that I decided to try it out." she hoped that this story was convincing enough. She bit the inside of her cheek for lying to him.

Erik considered this answer and motioned to the door. They walked out of the shop and he walked her to the front doors of Gameworx. He leaned over to her and spoke over the loud and booming music.

"It was nice meeting you, Christine." surprisingly his voice was soft despite the noise around them.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Destler." Christine's voice sound squeaky and like a child's as she tried to speak louder than she usually did.

"Please, call me Erik." He said looking deep into her brown eyes.

She smiled and bowed her head slightly. She slipped through the swinging door which he had opened for her and gestured a small wave of goodbye.

He half-smiled and watched her walk until she was far from sight. He walked back to his shop and began to work on drilling holes into Christine's ball. He worked deftly, wanting to make sure that this was the best ball he drilled holes into.

The music of Gameworx was shut out by the egg cartons that Erik placed on its windows. This was so that he could play some of his own CDs. He put on a CD of instrumental piano pieces that he loved to listen to while he worked.

He wished that he could play the piano just as great as the musicians who played his music.

As he was polishing the holes in the green ball, he wondered to himself why she hadn't even so much as asked about his mask. She looked at it, but that was just about it. She made no other move to insert it in their light conversation.

He was looking up now, and staring into space. He absently stroked the mask, closing his eyes trying to feel his face from underneath it. Christine was the first person to ever _not_ stare at his face for his mask, but for his eyes.

He smiled to himself and continued to finish working on Christine's ball while humming the ending notes to the track playing.

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* * *

That night, Christine was alone. She figured that Meg went out with Raoul and won't be back 'til quite late. She was happy for Meg, who seemed quite depressed before she had met Raoul. He appeared to be a respectable man and Christine hoped he was. Meg needs a strong man in her life, Christine thought.

After going through her nightly routines—which included another grueling swallow of the icky pill--Christine lay awake on her four poster bed and stayed awake for another hour or so before drifting off into welcomed sleep.

The next morning, she woke up and found Meg, sleeping peacefully on her bed. She was still wearing traces of eye makeup so she must have one to bed just hours ago.

Christine stretched quietly and thought to herself. She could have sworn that she dreamt about a very long bowling alley. She was walking on it, slipping on the oil spread across it, trying to reach the other end which was shaped like an eye with emerald green blended into the darkness.

Her heart pounded erratically and she grabbed her chest, doubling over. She gasped for breath and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. It took her a few minutes before she regained herself.

It was a very odd thing for her heart to do. It had never beat in such a way that it was literally painful for her.

She spent the rest of the day trying to figuring out why.

yay! hope you like it


	4. Chapter 4

yay for chapter four! thank you guys for your kind reviews and sorry for taking so long..i only ever get to write on weekends, and guess what? its the weekend! sorry...just really giddy about this chapter...you'll find out why.

hope you guys like this one!

i do not own any of the POTO references here, the plot is entirely my own

pls read and review dear fanfickers :)

* * *

Time spent at school sped by fast for Christine. She was eager for every bowling practice that transpired everyday after class. It was becoming a routine for Meg and Christine that Meg would drop her off on Earling St. and she would drive off to her part time job as a tutor at the local Kumon Center several blocks away. Sometimes Raouls would meet up with her there, and volunteer to help some of the kids. All Christine cared about was that Meg was happy.

Christine had always perceived bowling to be very easy: it was just a matter of throwing the ball at the pins…right? Much to her curiosity, bowling was a lot more than just throwing the ball.

She'd have to be precise in her standing position. Her approach (the walk towards the lane) had to be carefully synchronized with the swing of her ball.

She shouldn't look at the pins when she throws the ball, but she should look at the marks on the lane—these are closer to her than the pins and would help in leading the ball into its accurate path towards the pins.

Her ending position had to include a follow-through swing to ensure that the ball would go exactly where she wanted it to go.

"Extend your right leg back and balance your weight in your legs and left arm. Like this," Erik demonstrated. He'd been teaching Christine all those things and was very happy with her improvement. He hadn't seen a student learn so quickly and with as much enthusiasm as she had.

Christine would always be so amazed with Erik when he would demonstrate some bowling moves. He was on the adjacent lane and performing the ending position with his left arm level with his shoulder, and his right leg extended backwards behind his left leg.

He looked like a perfect statue. He had grace and poise in his posture, and his balance was so exact that she didn't see him lose his focus at the end of the lane.

"Now, you try," Erik said. He would always pretend not to notice Christine gawk at his bowling positions. He had grown accustomed to the fact that she would never ask about his mask. It was either she was so polite, or she had already had some idea behind it.

Christine was startled at him and did as he had asked her to. She began at her approach, ball in hand. She concentrated on the third mark to the right of the lane—this was where she was supposed to let her ball pass on so that it would 'pocket' into pins 1 and 2. This would end in a strike if executed properly.

He was beside her, arms crossed, staring intently at her posture. This made her uncomfortable a bit, but shrugged it off instead.

She started to walk, carefully. She performed each of the steps of a good bowling approach and when she reached the edge of the foul line, she threw the ball in front of her and ended with extremities extended to their proper places.

She waited until her ball hit pins 1 and 2 before she stood up from her ending position. She heard the thunder of the falling pins. Strike.

It was her first strike since she started practicing a week ago. Erik told her that she would have to be patient because even the greatest bowlers had to start somewhere, and it wasn't at a strike.

Christine leaped up and yelped in joy. Erik was laughing heartily, with a big grin on his face. He was clapping in response to her shrieking. They didn't might all the show of emotion because not a lot of people played bowling late in the afternoon. Sometimes they would be the only ones there.

Christine rushed to Erik and smiled at him so brightly. They began to laugh at the strike, and then at each other for laughing. Without thinking, Erik held her at her elbows, and Christine instinctively laid her hands at the crease of his elbows.

They were close enough to feel each others body heat, and their laughing faded as they looked deeper into each other's eyes. Their smiles faded as well, which were replaced by quick breaths from laughing hard.

They hesitantly leaned closer to each other; Christine's eyes were level to Erik's lips so it was so easy to stare at them.

Their noses almost touched until they broke off their touch because Christine's ball had returned on the conveyor belt leading from the end of the lane.

Christine was surprised by this and closed her eyes and winced at the painful throbbing her heart gave at the fright of it. Luckily, Erik hadn't noticed for he had looked back at the ball which was behind him.

He glared at it for giving them shock and stopping what was supposed to happen, and turned around again to face Christine. They laughed uneasily at what was so close to happening, and the silence enveloped them both.

Erik leaned against the cover of the conveyor belt, and looked at his feet. Christine played with her fingers again and began to remove her wrister.

"S-so, uh, are you doing anything after our practice?" Erik asked awkwardly, a follow-up question was coming.

Christine wondered if she had homework. "Uhm, no, not really…why?"

"Well, there's a new place—that just opened—its an Italian restobar, and I was wondering if you'd like to have a quick dinner—with me?" Erik decided to just get it over with. A quick question entailed a quick response.

Christine's heart fluttered and she was tempted to put her hand on her chest, but she dared not to do it in front of Erik. "Well, why not? I think I deserve a dinner celebration for having a strike!" She said, playfully triumphant.

A smile formed on the left side of his face. "I'll go grab my stuff."

**(-o0o-)**

While Christine waited for Erik outside the locker room, she quickly sprayed Bath and Body Works all over her body, and hastily applied strawberry gloss onto her lips. She ran her hand through her hair to straighten it out a bit and sat down at the bench.

Erik emerged out of the locker room, wearing the same khaki slacks he was wearing before, but was in the middle of pulling down a fresh, blue-and-white-striped polo shirt.

Christine stole a glimpse of his toned body, and shivered at the thought of her own body being so close to it just moments ago.

"Shall we?" Erik asked, smoothing the back of his hair. He gestured to the door and Christine followed him. She smiled at him as he opened the door and led her to his car.

His car wasn't a fantastic one, but it wasn't shabby either. It was a perfect economical car. He gallantly opened the passenger door for her and she slid inside.

His car smelled like a man—but a nice-smelling man. It had a masculine smell to it but still had a touch of sweetness. Christine inhaled deeply.

He got in the car and they drove off to _Quattro_, the newest restaurant on the mall strip.

They got out of the car and entered the restaurant. Erik was close behind her and hesitated to put his hand on her back.

When Erik and Christine walked in, they were greeted by the waiters, but the customers were staring at Erik's face. Christine glanced at Erik from the corner of her eye and noticed that he remained unperturbed by the rude gazes of the people around them.

A waiter ushered them to a private booth and gave them both menus. Erik was already reading the menu while the waiter gave him a curious look and walked away.

"So tell me, do I have something on my face?" Erik asked lightly, still looking at the menu but a playful smile etched across his beautiful face.

Christine looked up at him and hesitated on what to answer, a wrong move could set their 'date' on fire.

"Now that you mentioned it, I think you have a little rosin powder smudged on your cheek. Did you check in the mirror?" _That's right Christine, play it safe,_ she thought.

He laughed his delicious laugh and Christine joined him shyly. People turned their heads to look at them and threw dirty looks.

Erik called the waiter and ordered two plates of vegetable ravioli and two sweet teas. The waiter jotted it down and left for the kitchen.

"So! Where do you study? You are in college right?" Erik brightly inquired, obviously trying to induce conversation into their meal.

"I study at University Caro. I'm a music major," Christine replied, in a matter-of-fact kind of voice.

"How interesting, you know I love music. The feelings that it evokes, the arias, operas, everything." He said it as if he were talking to himself much as he was talking with Christine.

"Do you play anything? Apart from bowling, I play the piano as a pastime," Christine said, enjoying the flow of the conversation: light, but still about something they both loved.

Suddenly Erik's body turned rigid and his face pallid. He acted as if he had eaten raw chicken and it was gurgling up his esophagus.

"No, I don't play anything. Like I said, I listen to it, but I don't play," he said vehemently, "but I bet _you_ play wonderfully," he added softening his tone as he glanced at the shocked expression that was on Christine's face.

Shock quickly diffused into humility as Christine lowered her face and smiled. She decided to let his snide answer pass; she'd just ask him about it another time.

"Oh, I don't know," Christine said, bringing her head back up and leaning closer to him. "I'm not as good as, well, Mozart, you know? But I love music, it…speaks to me. When I play, it's as if all my problems just, fade away."

Of course, she was talking about her illness. Music was her only outlet—and then bowling came into her life.

Suddenly their waiter appeared with two glasses and two hot plates. It was only then that they realized how much they leaned into each other on the table.

The waiter set their food on the table and left. Erik motioned Christine to start eating—she was just famished. She didn't even notice Erik staring at her from the corner of his eye.

The rest of the 'date' went by smoothly with more talks about bowling and Christine's college life. She told him that she was nineteen and would be turning twenty on October 24. He uncomfortably told her that he was a lot older than her. Christine decided not to push it and resumed eating.

When they had finished, Erik signaled the waiter to take away their plates and send them the bill. Christine was hesitant as she wanted to pay for at least half of it, but Erik raised a firm hand and reached into his wallet.

She was even more hesitant to drink her pill in front of him. She debated whether to casually go to the restroom or just drink it at home. She breathed deeply and found that she could last a bit longer without her pill.

Erik paid for the bill and they walked out of the restaurant. Erik brought the car around while Christine waited in front of the restaurant.

She finally climbed into his car and she gave the directions to her condo. About 20 minutes later, they finally reached the gate of her home and Erik stopped the car.

"I had a great time today, Christine," Erik hesitated. "I-I'm really glad that you are improving a lot on your bowling. Just don't forget the follow-through,"

They laughed uneasily as Erik mentally kicked himself for acting like such an idiot.

"Yeah, bowling was great today," Christine said. "And thanks for dinner—it was really great too," she added. More silence filled the dark inside of the car; the only light was from a nearby lamp post.

She felt him smile, and she began to play with her fingers. She was looking at her car door and started to reach for the handle, but she wanted to do something first.

She unclasped her seat belt and leaned over to Erik. She brushed her lips against his exposed cheek and Erik caught his breath. Wanting more, he tilted his head to his left as Christine pulled away and he felt her warm, sweet breath upon his lips. She stopped there.

Her curly hair fell around her shoulders and Erik's nostrils were filled with lavender and sweet musk. He slowly leaned closer to her until their lips became moist with their own breath.

Their eyes were closed, and Erik reached a hand up to her neck. She shuddered at his cold touch, and Christine opened her hazel eyes. Erik blinked his own eyes open and was amazed at what shade of brown Christine's eyes were in the tungsten glow of the lamp post.

She pulled away and sat back on her own seat. Sweat was forming on Christine's forehead while Erik was composing himself.

"G-good night," Erik said, his voice raspy from being caught in the back of his throat.

"Good night, too," Christine breathed. "Drive safely," she added, opening her car door and shutting it softly.

He watched as she climbed up the stairs and waited till she was in her condo.

She heard the soft revving of Erik's engine from behind her door. He was gone. She leaned against the door, not even bothering to switch the lights on, and lowered herself onto the floor, her back still touching the door.

She hugged her knees and closed her eyes. She didn't know how long she stayed like that but her heart began its erratic beating and Christine staggered to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

By the time her glass was filled, she clutched the glass and whimpered in pain. Her trembling hand reached for her shoulder bag, but she couldn't even feel for the small bottle. She collapsed on the floor and grasped her chest, breathing heavily.

Someone turned on the lights and rushed to her side. Christine made the distinct corn silk hair and moaned again in pain.

"Ohh," was all Christine could say. Meg instinctively dug into Christine's bag and brought out the elusive bottle.

The next thing Christine knew was Meg's fingers against her lips with a small pill in between them. Christine opened her mouth and Meg dropped it inside and brought the rim of the glass to her lips.

Christine gulped down the water, washing don the pill and waited for the pain to subside.

"Thank you," said Christine, shivering. Meg pulled her up easily, years of volleyball varsity developed strong muscles in her hips and arms. She brought Christine to the room and helped her ease down on the bed.

Christine heard more shuffling around the room and finally drifted off to sleep. The last thing on her mind was Erik.

yay! hoped you guys liked that one :)


	5. Chapter 5

I'm back! Sorry this took so long, I've had the outline written in my notebook for over a month now but I never got to it. I should be studying for a math quiz right now but I'd rather fanfic :P

Ok so this starts with Erik, then Christine, then Erik again :P

Why do I feel scared to write this? Ok anyway, here I go…I don't own the POTO references or the Gameworx ones…

pls RnR! ^_^

* * *

As Erik drove home in silence, he intermittently brushed his lean fingers on his lips, trying to savor the sweet taste of Christine's breath. _Like strawberries_, he thought to himself. But why had she hesitated to kiss him? She was nearly able to before they went out to eat dinner, and again when he dropped her off. Was she scared of his mask?

Erik tried not to think about the possible reasons for her indecisions and just tried to remember her fragrance. Taking a deep breath, he could almost feel the aroma fill his nostrils as if she was sitting right next to him.

A few minutes passed and Erik was at his condo. He parked his car into his usual slot in the basement parking lot and walked up to the elevator. The doors opened for him and he had to adjust his eyes to the bright lights inside the elevator. The basement parking lot didn't have a lot of lights switched on at this time of night and he was used to it.

He punched the button for the third floor where his room was and leaned against the cold metal railing of the elevator. Knowing that no one ever came out of their rooms at night, he removed the stifling mask on his face and moved his jaw and cheek on the right side of his face to stretch out the rough skin hidden during the day.

The elevator shuddered and the doors opened. Erik walked out and quietly made his way to room 308. He stuck his key through the doorknob and entered his home turning on only the hallway light.

He put his wallet, keys and mask on the kitchen counter and stretched as he walked to his bedroom filled with soft moonlight. Routinely, he took some night clothes from his closet and walked to his bathroom to take a shower. After he finished, he stretched his arms and legs before tucking into his unusually large bed.

He touched the right side of his face and cringed at the roughness at contact. He rolled over to his side and thought about Christine. His breathing evened out and was soon in a state of dreams.

That night he had a terrible dream. Tossing and turning under the comforters, he envisioned Christine in his arms like in the bowling alley before; her, staring into his eyes. As they both leaned in to kiss each other, a cloud of black smoke appeared in between them, tearing each other apart. Erik groped through the heavy confusion shouting for Christine.

"Christine! Where are you?!" Erik cried out, heard a piercing scream that tore through his chest and doubled him over.

Suddenly, tons of bowling balls fell through the roof, hitting him, and slowly killed him. The last image he saw was Christine, enveloped in a soft glow of white, watching him die with her big brown eyes…

"NO!" Erik shot up on his bed, drenched in a cold sweat. The sun was peering through the blinds on the north side of the bedroom wall. His breath was shaky and couldn't remove the images of the dream out of his mind. He climbed out of bed and walked to the kitchen to put his mask on.

He gripped the counter and calmed himself down fearing that Christine wasn't okay.

The rest of his day was just as terrible as his morning—he almost rammed into a light post as he was thinking about Christine; he burned himself while working with the soldering tool; he paced back and forth in his little pro-shop trying to make sense of the dream. He tried to reassure himself that Christine was going to be okay—he'd see her at training anyway.

During his break, he received a message from Meg. He eagerly pressed the playback button, hoping for a word from Christine.

"_Hi, this is Marguerite Giry, Christine's best friend. I just wanted to tell you that Christine is sorry that she can't attend training today. She isn't feeling well, and she just wanted me to tell you that she's sorry again. She'll probably be at Gameworx tomorrow, though. Hope you have a nice day, Mr. Destler." _Click.

_Hope you have a nice day_. "Damned straight I am," Erik muttered to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. How could his day be anyway worse?

­­­­­

* * *

"Hello there, Christine. Feeling any better?" said Dr. Andres warmly as he walked through his clinic door. Christine was already perched on the medical bed, waiting for him.

"I'm actually feeling the exact opposite today, Doc. I had a…really rough night," murmured Christine, too tired to even speak.

Meg practically had to drag her out of bed so that she could see Dr. Andres. Meg was so worried for her best friend but she never showed even a shadow of her inner feelings in front of Christine, although she had been confiding in Raoul.

"How strong were your convulsions?" said the heart specialist, already performing the habitual stethoscope procedure.

"Pretty hard to tell. I only _did_ pass out from the pain and all," Christine was in no mood to answer stupid questions. She knew that Dr. Andres was only asking it out of medical reasons but she didn't want to put up with any 'nonsense' today. She only wanted to see Erik, but she didn't want him to see her like this.

Ignoring Christine's spiteful reply, Dr. Andres continued with his check-up. It long and silent before Christine spoke again, looking straight ahead—eyes, ominous.

"Daryl, I don't think that bowling is working out for me. My last attack really took me overboard and I think that it's because of a lot of bowling. That's what I really came here to tell you, I want to stop." But inside, she didn't really want to stop because it would mean that she wouldn't see Erik anymore. As much as it pained her to do so, she knew that it would hurt more if she continued to play bowling.

Hearing his first name, Dr. Andres spoke naturally. Christine was a long-time patient of his and he didn't mind it at all when she called him by his first name. He had always looked at Christine as his daughter because he didn't have one himself. His wife could not conceive.

"Oh Christine, we aren't sure of that. And besides, how are we so sure that it's really bowling that's to blame? You've been bowling for some time now and this attack only happened just recently. In all my expertise, I can hardly say that this is because of your playing bowling, sweetie. Plus, your EKG's have been reading perfectly normal, save of course for this freak attack," Dr. Andres explained, Christine looking at him hopefully before she dropped her eyes to the floor, playing with her fingers again.

"If it makes you feel any better, the results from our tests are coming in soon and we can finally find out what is really the matter! I, for one, am how you kids say, 'totally syked!'" Daryl said this with a bad impersonation of a kid from the ninety's that Christine had to laugh it his attempt to make her feel better. He knew how to cheer her up.

The heart doctor put a warm hand on her shoulder and whispered lovingly.

"But you must understand that the outcome of the tests might not be good. I mean, they really won't be good things since you are sick with something, but I'm trying to say that there's a possibility that things will happen out of our control; that some things can't be cured,"

Christine looked up at him now, sarcasm turned into fright.

"Anything is possible, though, right Daryl?"

"Of course. All the more reason for things to turn out wrong in the end," Dr. Andres replied with a sigh. "I'm going to write you another prescription for your medicine. I know you're running out."

Christine thanked her doctor for the prescription and walked out of the hospital in a daze. She didn't call Meg to pick her up because she decided that a good walk would help her. _All the more reason for things to turn out wrong in the end. _She knew exactly what Dr. Andres was driving at. There was as much of a possibility for her to die from her disease as there was for her to be cured. She wasn't ready at all to die. She wanted to finish college, and she couldn't bare the sight of leaving Meg.

She sighed and looked down at her feet as she realized that she was speaking in such cliché that she ridiculed herself inwardly. But she couldn't stop herself from thinking about Erik, too. How would _he_ deal with her death, if ever? She didn't hesitate to think that feelings for him were growing inside of her and she hoped that he was feeling the same things as well.

She just couldn't deny the intense sensation she felt when Erik held her arms and looked at her with such profound concentration that she thought he was peering into her soul. She had never felt a shiver as strong as she felt when she nearly kissed him inside his car…

She didn't realize that she had made her way to Gameworx and she stared at it as the sunset glared into her eyes. She squinted and debated whether she should visit him or not. She had already asked Meg to excuse her from training so there wasn't much of a point to go.

But she felt like she needed to be beside him and touch his skin to be able to cure herself to health. She wanted to breathe in his scent. She wanted to rake her hands through his hair. She wanted ever so badly to press her lips against his and wrap her arms around his body…

A jolt of electricity in her chest startled her from her reverie and she realized that she was in the middle of the sidewalk. She looked at the big sign of Gameworx and reluctantly turned into the direction of her apartment. She took the sudden pain in her heart as a sign that she wasn't ready to see him.

"I get it okay?" she grumbled to herself, referring to her heart. She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets and walked home.

* * *

_I should call her, and ask if she's okay. No! She might not want to hear from you anyway! Why else would she not kiss you? But something might really be the matter…_ Erik debated to himself and fought his inner demons as he wondered if he should call her or not.

The anxiety that he felt the whole day was enough to rip his mind to shreds and make him go insane. He was drumming his fingers against his chin and lips; desperate to know what to do.

After a long while of staring at the old telephone in his pro-shop he finally decided to call her. He thought that there was no harm in checking in on her, especially with this really heavy feeling inside of him, telling him that there was something wrong with the atmosphere.

"I've got nothing to lose, right?" he told himself, determining that he really did lose his mind.

He punched in the numbers of Christine's apartment. He remembered it by heart when he read the personal information profile that he had asked Christine to fill out when they first met. The sweet smile on her face...

Through the receiver he heard the ring and a wave of nervousness coursed through his body, making him feel utterly uncomfortable. It rung twice, then four times and he was feeling more and more impatient. He almost hung up before someone picked up and breathed a swift hello.

"Christine, it's me, Erik," nervousness was replaced by relief when he heard her voice.

"Erik, what a surprise! Did you not receive Meg's message she left for you?" her voice sounded foreign and tired and heavy and it downed Erik's spirit quickly.

"No, yeah I got it. I just wanted to know you are alright. I-I've been having this edgy feeling the whole day and I just felt like I needed to call you or something." Erik tried to make it sound as light as possible but what he really meant was: please tell me you are alright. I had a bad dream last night and I needed to know that you are safe.

"Well," a pause, "I'm fine, Erik. I just have a lot of homework to do and I have a lot of papers to write," she hoped she sounded convincing but Erik knew better.

He was hoping that she wasn't lying and that she wasn't pushing herself away because of what happened between them—or what _almost_ happened. He was beginning to feel the rejection.

"Please tell me that this isn't because of…what I did, if ever I did anything against what you wanted to happen. I'm sorry if I went over the line, I don't want to do anything to hurt you, Christine, please know that." His voice was weak and it caused Christine's little I'm-fine-nothing-to-worry-about charade to falter and her real emotions seeped out a bit.

"I know that you'd never hurt me, Erik. Don't think that it was your fault why I'm not going to training," it was useless feigning the homework overload, "I'll tell you someday when I'm ready. Don't worry about me too much okay? You might sprout white hairs" Christine chuckled uneasily.

"Oh, and Erik?"

"Yes, Christine?" his voice low, controlled.

"I-I miss you," it was cheesy and uncalled for and downright shameful. But it sounded so right.

"I miss you too. Feel better, Christine," _click._

A very heavy and deep feeling was embedding itself into Erik's thorax. He wasn't so sure where it came from, but he knew that it felt good. He was falling in love.

Christine put the phone into the cradle and breathed deeply as her chest gave its normal flutters. They seemed to be intensifying these days.

* * *

there you go. a good transition chapter i think. i intended it to be...not so eventful because of the upcoming chapters :) just sit tight okie?

and i found it vaguely important to characterize Erik so hence the Erik pov's ^_^


	6. Chapter 6

this prolly might be the sort of climax of the story, but i'm not entirely sure how long im gonna be making this story so yeah :)

i do not own any of the POTO refrences here:)

hope you enjoy this one :)

* * *

Dr. Andres blew out from his mouth in a defeated tone. Christine knew what was coming and she tried to brace herself by counting down from ten. _Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four…_nothing happened. She still felt nervous even as she watched Dr. Andres put his stethoscope around his neck and sit down behind his desk. He put his chin on his close hand, seeming to find the right words to start with.

This was it.

"What I am about to explain to you, Christine, is not as easy as you may think so. All the tests point out to this, and I want you to have an open mind for what I am about to tell you." He started with a real groundbreaking introduction; nothing any other doctor has begun with. _Perfect._

He leaned back into his chair but kept his eyes on Christine who remained stolid in her own chair. She would've looked like a mannequin if it weren't for her quiet breathing that was evident on her chest. She'd made a vow not to permit any reaction to show on her face during this appointment because she knew that _this_ appointment would be the one to change it all. For better or for worse.

"Christine, you possess a very rare type of beta-endorphin. Two out of three thousand people in the world have this and," pause, "not many get through this alive."

Christine blinked signaling him to spare her the niceties and get on with it because she'd been waiting her whole life to find out what was really wrong with her.

"A beta-endorphin is a peptide hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter, sending the most common sensations of a bodily high, a heightened sense of emotion, and being in love throughout your body,"

A flutter escaped Christine's heart and caused her to clear her throat as it raced down her spine.

A frustrated crease appeared in the brow of Dr. Andres and Christine knew this was the finality of his monologue. "Unfortunately, the molecular structure of the endorphins present in your system is different than the normal. When you feel excited, or in love, your brain releases the endorphins into your blood stream. Instead of diffusing into the plasma, as it is pumped into your heart, it coagulates."

Christine knew enough to know half of what he was talking about. He was trying to make it easier for her to understand but images of Erik kept interrupting her thoughts and her concentration. She had to get over this.

"This is called pneumo-cardioendogenous coagulation. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to pick this up earlier in our testing stage, but it was only recently that I came to realize that I had left out your endocrine system. I had done my research over all your other major systems but I had left it out. I may have run numerous blood tests, but they don't pick up endorphin levels."

The silence in the tiny, white-tiled clinic was deafening as Christine clutched the arm of her chair and tried to process all of the information Daryl had explained to her. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing had come out.

Dr. Andres sighed. "I didn't want to spell everything out to you because I hoped that you would understand what I am trying to t-,"

"So you're saying that I shouldn't…fall in love?" Christine finally spoke and she found her voice to be croaky and barely a whisper. If it was because of its dormancy or if it was because of the large lump in her throat, she wouldn't know.

"To put it point blank, it would reduce the chances of your heart going under cardiac arrest."

Christine started to look around her, the clinic spinning. She was blinking wildly as if she had just woken up from a bad dream. _I am in one, right?_ Her breathing accelerated and her hands and feet started to tingle.

As if suffering from schizophrenia and suddenly changing his persona, Dr. Andres left his chair and went to kneel beside Christine's, holding her hand that was still clutched onto the arm; knuckles pale white.

"Honey, I know that this is hard for you to hear. There's nothing much we can do now, but you know that there isn't anything more I want for you than to correct this situation. I've even considered operating on you, but that would involve a bypass surgery and a very extensive dialysis. It's like cleaning your blood of your hormones, but it's physically impossible and the bypass could very well just kill you. I'll still be prescribing your medication but as far as controlling your emotions, it's up to you now, sweetie."

Christine could barely hear what he was saying because her heart was thumping loudly in her ears, and her mind was whizzing with random thoughts of love, Gameworx, her pills, death, and the most vivid, Erik.

"Daryl, you're the closest I have for a father and you and Meg have been with me since the very beginning. Thanks for telling me everything I need to know. This is the most difficult situation I've ever been in and it couldn't have come at a better time in my life. This will be the most painful thing I'll have to do, but I know that I must not fall in love."

Christine spoke quietly and swallowed all of her feelings, sounding defiantly sure of her words. Whether or not it was going to make her feel better, she didn't know.

Suddenly, Dr. Andres bent his head onto his knee. "I've never wanted to deprive you of having a life, Christine! I am supposed to be your doctor, helping you and curing you of your sicknesses. Instead, what do I do? I practically steal your life!" His head shot up and what Christine saw was utterly heartbreaking. Daryl's gray eyes were flooded with tears though none of them fell down. His brow was creased into the tightest wrinkle of his forehead.

"Look at you! You are barely twenty and already you have the wisdom and maturity of a person who has seen the world at its weakest moment. Christine, I am sorry!"

Christine didn't understand why Dr. Andres was blaming himself for what she had. Nonetheless, she tried to soothe him and tell him that it isn't his fault she has PCEC. It was silent for a long while before Christine decided to leave. She still had training that afternoon and she didn't want to lag behind her lessons even if it meant meeting Erik.

She came to a decision that she would remain as impassive as she was in the clinic just so that she would be able to suppress her feelings and the growing pain in her heart. She quietly walked into the noisy atmosphere of Gameworx and strode over to Erik's pro-shop.

Through the glass window, she saw him with his feet comfortably on top of his desk reading another one of his magazines. His expression was pure concentration as his green eyes ran over the page swiftly. His jaw was taut and his lips pouted.

A familiar chill sped over Christine's body, but she immediately shook it off as she breathed deeply and opened the swing door. "I'm ready for my training today, Erik."

He practically jumped up from his seat with a wide expression on his face that read as completely relieved. He went up to her and Christine could smell the familiar scent of musk and lavender. He would've hugger her if she didn't have such an antagonistic expression in her face. Something was the matter, but Erik decided not to push it.

"Christine! Are you alright? I was starting to get worried when you didn't answer your phone this morning." Erik reached up to touch her face but Christine pulled back.

"We should play some bowling. Without any training, I'm feeling really rusty." Christine gave an unconvincing smile and swiftly walked out of the pro-shop, leaving Erik in a very confused daze.

During training, Erik noticed that Christine was not herself at all. She was unusually agitated when she would not hit the right pins. She wasn't smiling as often as before. Most of all, she would always maneuver her way out of Erik touching her even if it was an accidental graze of skin.

Right before Christine prepared herself on the approach, Erik stood right in front of her and asked question. "What's wrong?"

Blandly, Christine replied. "Nothing. Hey, am I swinging this right?" She demonstrated by swinging her right arm like a pendulum, looking at Erik as if he hadn't asked anything at all.

In a desperate attempt to reach out to her, Erik moved behind her and raised her bowling arm into the proper position. He bent his knees to match Christine's and soon, they were melded together like a fused puzzle piece.

"What are you doing?" Christine's heart rate agonizingly rose higher, resulting in ragged breaths.

Erik breathed into her neck. "Showing you what I've been meaning to show you since you first stepped into my pro-shop. On three. One…two…three…"

They moved in perfect synchronization, each leg gliding over the floor boards, glued to each other. As their left leg was pushing in for the slide, they swung the ball and pushed forward. They released the ball and their fingers intertwined at the end.

Christine breathed heavily and watched as her ball spun in its track, pocketed into pins one and two, and finally, cleaning the alleyway free of any pins with a thunderous explosion. A perfect throw.

As reality started to sink in, Erik whispered quietly in her ear. "You forgot your follow through". He moved her arm with his in the late follow through, rising from their bent position on the foul line as their locked arms sped up above their heads.

Simultaneously, Christine wheeled on her heels in a pivotal movement and twisted her body while still holding onto Erik's hand. He held her at the waist with his free hand, assuming the position of a dancer who had just performed a turn in a waltz dance.

"Christine," Erik sighed into her wavy locks. He breathed in her warm, vanilla aroma.

Christine felt like pudding in his strong arms and she gripped them for support. _We can't do this_, she thought but her heart beating erratically against it.

"Erik, it hurts." She whimpered helplessly, knowing that she wanted it as much as he did. She winced in pain and groaned through ragged breaths. She laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes, hoping that it would all go away.

Erik slowly worked his right hand down her back until finally resting his palm at the small of it. Christine gasped lightly at his touch, only surging Erik's blood to run into places that throbbed almost painfully.

"Erik," Christine needn't say more.

As Erik held her chin in between his thumb and index finger, Christine looked up into his emerald gemstones, enraptured and blazed with feral need. A furrow on Christine's forehead displayed the pain in her heart, both of love and of coagulation.

With closed eyes, Erik leaned closer to Christine's face, almost closing the moist space in between their lips. Their breath mixed as one, creating more heat and a certain flavor in the valley of their lips. Wanting to taste his sweet breath, Christine closed her eyes and licked her lips, accidentally grazing Erik's bottom lip.

Erik was sent over the edge and kissed her full on the lips. _She tastes better than she smells_, Erik thought as he began to massage Christine's unmoving lips with his own. Erik started to think that Christine's indifference mirrored her disgust for kissing him, but she finally succumbed to the moment and finally opened her mouth to him. _We can't do this…_

Electricity surged through heir bodies, further deepening the kiss. Sparks began flying around them and Christine unthinkingly wrapped her arms around Erik's neck, causing him to groan. Erik brought his hand to her soft ivory cheek and stroked downwards, making Christine shiver in response. Just as Christine fully let go of her inhibitions right there on the approach lane, reality struck her chest like a thousand knives.

Erik broke the kiss, sensing her discomfort, but his eyes threw it as understatement. Christine's face was contorted in pain. She doubled over, seizing her chest; knees buckling. She gasped for air but her lungs could not be quenched. It felt like drowning on dry land.

"E-Erik!" Christine cried.

He was in a state of panic and couldn't move from his position. Sweat started to drip from Christine's temples and she grew paler and paler by the second. Her mind started spinning and the bright fluorescent lights overhead scathed her eyes which were slowly disappearing behind weary lids.

The last image that Christine saw was Erik's terrified eyes staring into her own. Her knees finally gave out and she fell limp in Erik's arms.

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hooray for me! i updated fast! lol ^_^


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for the reviews everyone :) you just don't know how much they help keep me going. Here's a chapter in Erik's point of view…it was hard to write because Erik is basically clueless about what's going on as opposed to moi, the creator of this story. Bwahahaha. I know what is going to happen in the end but I have no idea how I'll get there or when.

Anywho! You won't have to listen to me anymore, just read this chapter and an 8th one will be up soon….(and y'all know how soon MY soon is :P)

I don't own POTO or anything except the plot okie? Disclaim, disclaim, disclaim…

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_There's nothing more important in my life than this moment right here._ Erik thought as he held Christine in his strong arms. Her scent was intoxicating and he could've died and gone to heaven by the sweet and familiar aroma tickling his senses. Erik breathed her in, never wanting the moment to end.

Silently Christine whispered of pain and emotions made Erik's head spin as she leaned her head against his chest. Misperceiving all of Christine's actions, Erik thought that the pain Christine was feeling was from not being close enough and he carefully slid his right hand to Christine's lower back. Already breathing heavily, Christine inwardly gasped at the feeling of his hand.

Not being able to control primal reaction, Erik's blood raced into a place that felt tighter with each pump of blood from his body. His mind was in an exquisite high and he was doing all that he can and mustering up strength to keep him from losing his dignity in front of Christine who was simply at a loss for words.

"Erik,"

Her voice was music to his ears and right now, it was playing the right melody. Hearing his name pour out of her mouth in such a sensual way almost caused Erik to release himself right then and there. Instead, he took Christine's chin in between his fingers and dared her to look in his eyes. He knew that he must have looked almost terrifying with the intensity of his gaze upon her and the incandescent glow of green emanating from his stare.

Erik's current feeling only heightened at the look of wanton, need, and—was it love that was in those perfectly hazel brown eyes? Erik wanted to kiss the furrow in Christine's brow. Well, he wanted to kiss every part of the woman he was so desperately falling in love for.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, he closed his eyes and leaned in closer to Christine's face. He could feel her heart beat racing and it only surged him on. Their heavy breathing against each others lips was causing moisture to form just like it did the last time they almost kissed. Erik prayed that she wouldn't shy away from him this time. He was really beginning to trust another person and something in that moment told him that his mask was the _last _thing on Christine's mind.

Then Christine did something unexpected. Being the little vixen that she was, she darted her small tongue out, grazing his bottom lip. This surprised Erik who fumbled for a reason for her action. But overcome with a roller coaster of feelings, Erik almost broke his neck diving in for Christine's lips.

It was the single most amazing thing he had ever tasted in his life and he wanted nothing more than her soft lips against his own. Emotion flood through Erik and he could almost cry at the intense feeling that was exploding in his body. Erik began to move his lips against Christine's but hers remained unmoving. He was beginning to think that reality had struck her and she realized she was kissing an ugly, deformed man. Feeling terrible, Erik was about to pull back when suddenly he felt her soft lips begin to massage his own. Erik's head was spinning and he couldn't get enough.

To add to the already perfect moment, Christine snaked her arms around Erik's neck to get a better angle at his mouth. He groaned in response and continued to lovingly massage Christine's lips and occasionally darting out his tongue to explore her wonderfully delicious mouth. As he did so, he deftly touched her cheek and moved his hand down her body causing exquisite tremors to make her body twitch.

Just before Erik swore that this moment was the happiest he ever felt, he heard Christine groan in a pained way and reluctantly broke the kiss to see what the problem was. Terror struck Erik like a thousand knives when he saw Christine's face contort in inexplicable pain. He froze in his spot when he heard her cry his name out; asking him to relieve her pain.

Doubling over, Christine whimpered and Erik could do nothing except hold her steady. She was breathing erratically and Erik thought at once to call an ambulance.

Christine's face grew more ashen and her beautiful eyes slowly began to disappear behind lids that were already half-closed. Her lips were slightly parted and red from so much kissing. She began to tip over to her side, losing balance, and finally dropped in Erik's arms, motionless.

There was no one else in Gameworx to witness the incident or help Erik in saving Christine and Erik cursed himself for his bad luck with life. Carrying Christine in his arms, he gently laid her down on the nearby bench, being careful not to hurt her head or anything. He rushed into his pro-shop, stumbling a few times, and shuffled for the phone. He called the only number that Erik knew would help her. It rang once then an operator answered the call.

"_9-1-1, what's you're emergency?"_

"I need an ambulance right away! My—girlfriend just suddenly fainted! I don't know what to do!" Erik was hesitant to title Christine but he couldn't think of anything else. He looked over his shoulder and his eyes lingered at Christine's body on the bench.

"_Calm down sir, I'll dispatch an ambulance once I know where you are exactly."_

"We're at Gameworx, the bowling stadium on Earling St., corner Luxembourg Avenue. Please come quick," desperation rang clear in his voice as he strained it over the receiver. Sweat was really beginning to form over his brow and it caused his mask to shift slightly. He quickly rearranged it on his face and listened in for the operator's final instructions.

"_Alright sir, I've sent an ambulance out and they will be arriving there shortly. May I please know you name?"_

"Erik Destler."

"_Ok Erik, I want you to relax and just stay with your girlfriend. Don't panic because help is on its way. Tell the paramedics everything that happened and everything will be fine. Call again if you need anything."_

Erik hung up the phone and rushed back to Christine. He knew she was still alive because of the weak movements of her chest, indicating slow breathing. He knelt down beside her and moved his ear to her breast. Her heart was beating very fast and then would shift to becoming slow, then would continue the same pattern. He lifted his head up to look at Christine's solemn face. He stroked her hair and traced a light pattern on her lips.

_I need you to live,_ thought Erik, who was starting to lose hope. Meeting Christine was the best thing that happened to Erik's life and he didn't want another person to be taken from his life. He finally found the woman whom he was searching for all his life and he didn't want to lose her now.

Lost in his thoughts, Erik barely heard the three paramedics sprint in through the swing doors. They were dressed in dark blue jumpsuits; two of them were rolling a stretcher while the other one was carrying a medical bag, a stethoscope around his neck. Erik leaped up and explained what happened while the two men with the stretcher carefully laid Christine on it. The one with the medical bag listened intently to Erik while attending to Christine by checking her heat beat and other first aid routines.

"Do you know if she is taking any medication at all?" asked the red-haired man holding the medical bag.

"Not that I know of, I've only known her for a while now." Erik replied, his voice hoarse from stress.

"But you did say that she was your girlfriend?" inquired the paramedic who was looking confused.

"Like I said earlier, we were—sharing a very intimate moment until she doubled over and collapsed in my arms." Erik was suddenly defensive and answered brusquely.

The two paramedics quickly rolled Christine out of Gameworx and into the ambulance. Erik quickly grabbed his jacket from the nearby table and followed them both and climbed into the back. One of them walked to the front where he would be driving. Erik heard the ambulance alarms whirring and the jolt of the engine. The van sped its way to the hospital.

Erik couldn't believe that this was happening. One minute he's feeling like the happiest man in the world and then suddenly he's riding an ambulance, beside Christine clutching her hand. Erik closed his eyes and let the situation sink in for a moment. He was feeling disgusted with himself that he would be a probably reason for Christine's lapse. He closed his eyes and bent his head down, feeling miserable.

Suddenly he could feel the weight of the paramedic's eyes as they grazed upon his white mask. Erik looked up at him and shot him a menacing look that caused the man's eyes to widen in fear. Just before Erik was about to say something, Christine stirred on the stretcher and fought to open her eyes. Erik squeezed her hand.

"Where am I?" she groggily asked, her eyes darting here and there, registering the situation. Then her eyes fell on Erik's and her face softened.

"Christine," Erik soothingly said as he stroked her hair again.

She was just about to smile when she suddenly winced in pain, whimpering softly, and her head fell limp against her shoulder.

Erik's free hand gripped the railing of the stretcher tightly and the paramedic panicked that Erik would do something bad. Sensing his tension, Erik released his hand from the railing and leaned back in defeat. He silently prayed that this was just a dream. He couldn't bear to imagine what would happen to him if ever Christine died. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself. But what _did_ happen to Christine? Everything was going fine until she collapsed in his arms. Was she really just pitying him all the time and acting as if his mask didn't affect her? Surely, he wasn't disgusting enough to actually kill someone because they hated his mask. He needed answers and his skin itched to find them.

Moments later, after the jarring ride in the ambulance, they finally arrived at Blue Sparrow Memorial Hospital. Everything happened so quickly after that and Erik was caught in the emergency room haze of energy and adrenaline. He didn't want to leave Christine's side, especially when they began to perform the standard operating procedures of the hospital like injecting her with dextrose, but he felt the need to sit down and ground himself for a moment.

Erik was a considerably tall man and as he walked through the white-bleach hallways of the hospital, he suddenly felt very claustrophobic. He was looking for a bathroom where he could wash his face and stretch it out a bit. After splashing cold water over the rough side of his face, he quickly went out through the door and walked briskly over to the emergency room.

Standing beside Christine's bed and talking to a nurse, was a doctor that was unfamiliar to Erik but he quickly perceived him to be the resident doctor on the floor. The aging man glanced at Erik and motioned for the nurse to tend to other patients. He walked over to Erik and extended his hand.

"Hello, you must be Erik Destler. I'm Dr. Daryl Andres, Christine's cardiologist." In those few words Erik could sum up that there was definitely something wrong with Christine and that it concerned her heart. How else would the doctor relate himself to Christine in a familiar way?

"How'd you know my name? What is wrong with Christine? Is she all right?" The questions poured out of Erik's mouth faster than Dr. Andres could put his hands up in a gesture that asked him to calm down.

"Christine is stable as of now, but I'd like to keep a close eye on her. She suffered from a very intense case of hyperventilation but she will be alright. I'll have the nurses transfer her to a private room as soon as possible, and you may stay with her after that. If you'll excuse me, I have to go and check on her test results." With that, the doctor drifted away on the white hospital tiles and left Erik close to crumbling. He clenched his fists and brought them to his head. He breathed in and out and looked over at Christine who was sleeping with a very exhausted look on her face.

-oOo-

Soon after that Erik settled into an armchair in room 2128, beside Christine's bed. He was staring at the EKG monitor and watched the green line erratically jerk up and down in time with a beeping sound. It was all he heard for a while, patterning his breathing with each beep until Christine's fitful sleep caused her to moan softly.

"Christine," Erik whispered in the dimly lit room. He could feel tears pooling at his eyes and he almost lost it. Staring at the most beautiful woman in the whole world that was dressed in a starch hospital gown, dextrose seeping into her injected hand caused Erik to utter something that he meant to say before he kissed her.

Silently, Erik sighed shakily.

"I love you."

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hope you enjoyed that. stay tuned everyone and thanks for it :)


	8. Chapter 8

DARK CHAPPIE PEOPLE! thanks for waiing so long :) i'm hoping that this chapter will be a good dose for all of you :) thanks for the faithful readers! you know who you are :P

so yeah, in this chapter, you will see the dark side of Erik because not knowing anything..its finally gotten to him. so enough chat

disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...

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Despite Erik's best efforts, he could not contain the utter anxiety that he was feeling for not knowing anything about Christine's condition. It had been only a day since the accident, but to Erik, it was a thousand years of waiting in bitter anticipation for the worst to come. When he wasn't sitting beside Christine's hospital bedside, he was walking aimlessly around the hospital—a place that Christine could almost call her second home. To Erik, a maze of catacombs.

He had always hated hospitals. He hated the antiseptic smell that burned his nostrils as doctors, nurses and patients whizzed by. He hated the bland and dry hospital food that they deem 'nutritious' but really is just a surmountable quantity to be easily passed through the bowels. Really, hospital food is just something to keep a person from dying but not really letting them enjoy the taste of life. But most of all, Erik hated the waiting. He hated the expectant looks on relatives' faces when deep inside, all they really need is absolution of the truth—that their loved one is _dying_.

Erik cringed at the word. He kissed Christine, who was looking—if you can call it better—less sallow, on the forehead and silently drifted out of the private room to get a snack from the nearby Vendo machine. _Anything to keep me from eating the God forsaken food._ He chose a small bag of chips and counted out his quarters. His long and pale fingers inserted the coins into the coin slot and punched in the combination for the chips. It had jammed itself along the conveyor belt and Erik had to nudge the machine a little to get it to fall out. He was still feeling so bitter about being oblivious to Christine's condition that he had jarred the machine a little too much that it had broken down. Erik growled to himself and caused the nearby nurses to give him a frightened look. He scowled back at them and trudged out of the hall and into the parking lot.

He had asked his friend from Gameworx to fetch his car for him from his condo and he quickly spotted it in the far corner of the parking lot. It was a rather chilly afternoon and he was anxious to be inside the warmth of the car. He felt his pockets for his keys and fumbled for it to ignite the engine. The radio automatically switched on and was playing cheery country music. Erik glanced at the radio and slammed his finger into the power button to shut it off. The silence was heavy in his car and it only pressed him to remember the night before.

_I snaked my hand around her back and knew that the coldness of my palm would cause her to shiver. She breathed out my name and I felt as if the whole world had melted away because of the sultriness of her voice against my neck…_

"God damn it!" Erik shouted and gripped the steering wheel tightly. He didn't know where he was planning to drive to but soon enough, he'd realized that he drove himself home. He smelled the tanginess of human salt and cringed. He had to take a shower.

He quickly parked his car into his usual slot in the basement and made his way up to his room where he locked the door and turned up the volume of his massive stereo to rock music to drown out the thoughts of Christine and her sultriness.

Briskly, he threw his clothes off and headed off to the bathroom where he let the shower run hot. The large bathroom mirror was beginning to fog up as Erik removed the oppressive mask from his face. He looked at himself at the mirror and frowned at how old he was getting. Abdominal muscles were still where they were supposed to be and yet they seemed weathered and a little bit heavy above his manly V-line. His shoulders sagged a little as if in conformity to the exhaustion that he was experiencing—he hadn't slept at all. Moist was beginning to form on his strained neck and Erik closed his eyes to succumb to the relaxing humidity of the bathroom. He had created his own personal sauna with the steam that was rising up above the shower stall.

After a few minutes had passed, he realized that he was wasting water so he quickly climbed into the bathtub and slid the glass door shut. He didn't want to waste anytime anymore so he scrubbed himself with his soap and washed his hair out. He rinsed himself and turned the water off. He grabbed his towel from its rack and carelessly wiped the beads of water from his face and body, almost forgetting to be careful when drying up the marred side of his face. That suddenly made Erik angry and he remembered why he was in a hurry—he was going to confront Christine's doctor once again and this time, he was sure he would gain new perspective on his love's condition.

_My love._ Yes, Erik was sure that he loved Christine, but was he one hundred percent sure that she loved him back? Erik wondered how Christine could even stand to be so close to an ugly monster like himself and he pondered upon the moment that she would finally realize what a mistake it was to kiss him.

If_ there would ever be that moment._ Erik rummaged through his closet to find a long-sleeved, brown colored, v-neck shirt and a pair of beige cargo pants. He smoothed his hair out and reluctantly replaced his mask upon his face and set out through the door, locking it behind him.

-o0o-

Erik drove to the hospital, already practicing the lines that he was going to say to Dr. Andre when he confronted him. He didn't want to let lose a string of profanities but if it ever came to that, he wouldn't stop himself. His whole body almost shivered with anticipation with the mystery that he would soon unravel.

He carelessly parked his car near the entrance of the hospital and walked briskly into Dr. Andres's clinic. He had donned a face that normal people would run away from and true enough, passers-by drifted off to the sides of the hallways as if pulled by a magnetic force. He sucked in a deep breath and cleared his throat to begin his angry tirade. Without knocking on the doctor's door, Erik burst through it and glared directly at the preoccupied doctor.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CHRISTINE? HAVE YOU ANY IDEA—"

Unperturbed, the doctor used his hand to motion to an elderly man who looked severely troubled.

"I'm with a patient, Mr. Destler. Excuse me." The doctor replied with a tone of annoyance.

Overwhelmed with embarrassment, Erik glanced at the two men twice and sheepishly stumbled out of Dr. Andres's office, quietly shutting the door behind him. He sat down on one of the waiting chairs lining the hallway and waited for his turn; cheeks burning. He put his head in his hands that were propped up on his thighs.

_God, why did I do that? What came over me?_

A while later, he heard the door open and close. A soft hand gently nudged his shoulder and Erik looked up at Daryl's previous patient. The elderly man had soft blue eyes that were framed with a wrinkled face weathered with age. If a tree's rings dictated how old the tree is, then these wrinkles depicted the age of the man. Then the skin pulled back and revealed pearly white teeth that would most probably have been veneers.

"Your turn to find out what's going on, son." His voice complemented his wrinkly face, suggesting that he might have been a singer in his earlier days.

Erik, not knowing if there was a double meaning to that, quickly apologized to the man while touching his mask. It was out of habit that he would place his fingers on his mask while apologizing although he didn't exactly know why.

He entered the clinic and was welcomed with a blast of cold air that he did not seem to notice the first time he came in. he inhaled deeply and allowed the temperature to cool his nerves down. He was finally going to know what happened to his sweet Christine. Dr. Andres was sitting precariously on his seat and stared at Erik with a grim expression on his aging face. Erik stared back with black eyes, desperately needing information. His whole body ached; practically itching to be relieved of his anxiety.

"Sit down, please, Mr. Destler."

"Call me Erik, Doc."

Erik sat down on the patient's arm chair and put a calm but sweaty hand on the edge of the doctor's desk. He bowed his head down slightly and suddenly felt very uneasy.

"I'm sorry for barging in on you. It was uncouth and uncalled for."

"You really want to know the truth don't you?" Dr. Andres looked at Erik with his sad eyes. He leaned on his desk with his elbows and looked down on his hands. Erik felt like he would explode if he didn't find out soon. He clenched his fists to keep them from slamming against the table. He bit the inside of his check to keep him from saying things he'd regret. He was drumming his leg very fast to keep from running upstairs to his love and hold her in his arms until she got better. Whenever that would be.

All the while the wall clock was ticking ominously loud as if to mock Erik of the remaining time he had left to be with Christine. Daryl and Erik looked up at the same time, knowing it was time to end the silence between them.

"I'm afraid it's not in my position to release confidential information between patients." Announced Dr. Andres as he leaned back into his reclining chair. Erik was on the brink of wringing the man's neck until he turned blue, he counted to ten and desperately hoped that he wouldn't lash out.

"What the hell are you trying to tell me? You're her doctor, God damnit! You listen to me," Erik leaned over the desk. He dared the doctor to look at him with his enflamed eyes. He continued, "I love her and I will do anything it takes to keep her safe even if it means killing myself. I've waited my whole life to find an angel to save mysoul from the wretches of this fucking mask, and I found her. Now if you have any amount of decency—man to man—to tell me what is going on, you'd tell me. Please, I love her."

Tears almost started forming in Erik's eyes but he fought them back and waited for he doctor to respond.

A very deep crease formed on the doctor's brow and forehead and it looked as if he was having trouble with what he was about to say. Erik swallowed and begged with his eyes that the doctor tell him.

Daryl exhaled. "Erik, as much as I would like to, I can't tell you. It isn't my place as Christine's _friend. _You must understand that this situation is difficult for me as well. Christine is a long-time patient of mine—almost like a daughter—and she specifically asked that I not tell…_you._"

Erik's eyes twitched and something in him snapped. He stood up abruptly causing Dr. Andres to d the same. Erik stared at him as menacingly as he could using his mask as a 'terror tool' as Erik fancied to call it. Everyone would be terrified by him when looked the way he did now, shaking with pent up impatience and fury from waiting all day for answers to his questions. Then the doctor did something that Erik didn't expect him to do; he laughed. Dr. Andres laughed a mirthless laugh and Erik didn't understand what the hell was funny.

"You don't scare me with that mask of yours, Erik."

Erik paled.

"So that's what you do. You hide behind your mask thinking that you can get away with everything by looking scary?" Dr. Andres laughed again but this time, with a heavy tone of sympathy while slowly shaking his head.

Erik almost growled but ran out through the door instead. He ran straight through the hospital's swinging doors and into the parking lot. It had begun to rain heavily. Erik stopped running and let the pouring raindrops to soak his clothes completely. It was frigid cold but it didn't matter to Erik who wasn't feeling anything at the moment except the churning feelings of anger, sadness, but above all, rage. He was breathing heavily and removed his mask to let the rain wash his whole face. He winced at the stinging coldness of the rain and realized that he'd catch a cold if he stayed out there long enough. Did it matter?

Erik stood there near the side walk, letting the raindrops mix with his tears.

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good enough? :) pls leave a review if it is and if it isn't...still do :P hehe


	9. Chapter 9

sorry this took so long! i watched POTO again to regain some inspiration for this particular story and i think i got it down. :) guess what, Christine wakes up in this chapter! but will she regret waking up? :

disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...

_

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This has to be a dream. I'm dreaming aren't I? I don't actually smell disinfectants and bittersweet medicines? I can't actually feel foreign fluids invading my body? I can't actually hear my own feeble heartbeat on a monitor somewhere near my bed? I can't actually hear—is that Erik's voice? Oh God, I am dreaming. To hear his voice again after what had happened between us—that _did_ happen, right? Christine you need to wake up. God knows how long you've been sleeping. But I'm so tired. My heart hurts and my stomach feels so empty. Erik, I need you right now. Please be here with me. Tell me that I'll be alright. I was wrong to keep this from you. I promise to tell you if you promise to stay here with me. Don't leave me. I love you, too._

"Dr. Andres, I'm sorry about how I acted the other day. I was just so angry about what is happening to Christine, I think I just blew up. I'm sorry again." Erik stood up to greet the cardiologist who had visited the sleeping Christine to check up on her vitals and otherwise, progress. The doctor was holding her chart in his hands and was examining it before Erik had quietly apologized with a grave but sincere expression on his face.

"It's quite alright, Mr. Destler. I apologize as well for the remark I made about you. I believe that we are both just under some very stressful times as it is. Christine means a lot to the both of us, and I can assure you, for what it's worth, that I am doing all that I can to help Christine. In fact, I've just begun some research on a project. I think that I can find a way to surgically alter the endorphins flowing through her heart. Well, it get's a little technical from there, but I'll update you as soon as possible." Daryl ended with a kind smile and proceeded to examine Christine.

Erik could not comprehend the utter relief he felt after the doctor ended his little spiel. He sat back down on his arm chair near Christine's bed and pondered over what the doctor had said. His brow furrowed in confusion—hormones? What did Christine's hormones have to do with her being in a coma right now? Despite the fact that he wanted to satisfy his burning curiosity, he opted to be respectful and supportive instead.

Once the doctor had finished his check up and excused himself, Erik moved closer to Christine, holding her hand and fiddling with her slightly matted hair. His expression softened by just looking at how beautiful Christine looked despite her pallid complexion and sunken features. She'd lost a lot of weight in the past couple days and Erik made it a point to cook her healthy meals once she woke up. _If she did…_

Erik ran his free hand through his hair and touched his forehead to Christine's arm. He almost fell asleep in that position but the most miraculous thing happened.

"E-Erik?" a raspy voice called out.

He jolted his head up and happiness swelled inside to see a tired Christine forcing her eyes to open and moving her head this way and that. He didn't know what to do at that moment, but he decided to push the emergency button to call for her doctor.

"I'm here, baby. Shh, don't speak, your throat must be so dry, right now. I'm here, love. I won't leave. God, I was so worried." Erik was caressing the side of Christine's head. She smiled weakly at him, her lips, chapped and dry, stretched over her teeth in a strained effort.

"Erik, I need to tell you why. I'm so sorry I didn't—I didn't get to tell you before." Christine closed her eyes in an effort to speak but Erik could barely understand her through her croaky whisper.

"Hush, baby, I know, I know. You can tell me some other time. Right now, I'm just so stoked you're awake!" Erik laughed in his euphoria.

The door swung open, startling both people. A wide-eyed nurse looked at Christine and exclaimed. Dr. Andres was right behind her, smiling widely.

"Christine! Finally, the sleeping beauty awakens. Nurse Goodman, would you please adjust Christine's dextrose and her other meds?" the doctor motioned to the nurse and made his way over to Christine's bedside. Already, the color was returning to her face.

"Well, today was a miraculous day, wouldn't you say? Right now, I need you to regain your strength. You must be extremely hungry! We'll talk once you get your strength back. For now, Erik, why don't you see to it that Christine gets a good meal in her stomach?"

"Yes, of course. I'll get right on that. She can eat anything, right?"

"Oh yes, her stomach can cope with anything now that she's conscious. If you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to. I'll be back later this afternoon to check on you again, Christine."

Dr. Andres left the room, and after completing her task, the nurse quietly exited herself. It was just Christine and Erik in the room and the silence was pressing on both of them.

"I love you, too."

"Sorry, what was that, Christine?"

"I didn't get a chance to say it. I heard you that night, Erik. I love you, too." Christine's voice was getting stronger and she was struggling to get up, failing on her weak arms.

Erik's heart warmed at the very thought of someone reciprocating his feelings. Their kiss was one thing, but to actually hear her profession of her love for him was making Erik's head spin in delight. He sensed Christine's movements to get up so he pressed the incline-button on the bed causing Christine to blush a little at her own stupidity.

"I'm out of words, Christine. I'm just so happy that you're okay now. We don't need to talk now if it takes the energy out of you. I'm going to go ask the nurse to bring you some food first, okay?" Erik started to get up, but Christine held up her hands.

"No, please. They'll bring me something for sure, now that they know I'm awake. Please, just stay with me. I've missed you so much. Oh Erik, I thought that I wasn't going to wake up. I could hear you talking, and I could feel you touch me, but I just _couldn't_ wake up, Erik."

He leaned into her and kissed her softly on the forehead then pressing his own to hers. He stared into her eyes, feeling the familiar sensation of being swept into the current of brown and amber vibrancy that were Christine's eyes. She brought her hand to Erik's head and their intimate moment almost made Erik cry. His feelings were too much, and he feared that she would relapse if he kissed her again.

After some time, Erik pulled back and settled into his chair, never leaving Christine's gaze. Nurse Goodman came back with a tray of food that she set in front of Christine. She ate hungrily and Erik quietly watched her nourish herself. Christine sipped the last of her apple juice and leaned back on the bed, contented.

"Full?" Erik remarked, amused.

"Oh shut up, I was out for what? A week?"

"Give or take a few days."

"Erik, I really want to tell you now." The smile slowly faded from Christine's face as it fixed itself into a serious expression.

He moved uneasily in his chair, suddenly nervous. But he had wanted to hear it from the beginning, hadn't he? There wasn't a reason to back out now. Erik remained quiet to allow her to continue.

"I-I have a heart problem. And, I've gone from doctor to doctor, and they can't seem to find out how to fix me. Only Daryl has the patience and will to really help me."

Erik remained quiet, as still as a statue, bracing himself for her next words. Christine continued.

"I've had this sickness since I was a little girl and it's only now that it's gotten worse. Erik, I have pneumo-cardioendogenous coagulation." Christine tried her best to remember every single word that Daryl used to explain her condition. But then again, how could she forget the day that her cardiologist told her she could die from love?

Christine finished with a tired sigh and drank some water that was also on the tray. She watched anxiously for Erik's expression but she could not read his face. It was frozen in a sort of blank, strained expression and he didn't as much as blink during her whole explanation. She bit her lip, fearful of what he might do but after a long while, Erik got up and faced the window. He had his hands resting on his hips as he determinedly gazed out the window facing the nearby park.

"Please say something." Christine whispered. She felt so weak and useless in her bed. She couldn't get up and hold him in his arms, or stroke his face. Tears began to blur her vision but Christine stubbornly blinked them away. Then Erik did the unexpected. He brought his right hand to his face and removed the mask. He was still facing away from Christine so she couldn't see everything but from where she was, she could make out the rough patch of skin that connected his temple to his face.

Erik held the bridge of his nose in between his fingers and exhaled. Then he replaced the mask and turned to face Christine whose bottom lip was crushed between her teeth. He walked over to her bed, trying hard to maintain his composure and he fought to keep a soft expression on his face. From the way Christine's eyes widened considerably, he wasn't doing much to hide his feelings.

"I'm still going to love you, Christine." Erik nearly growled his words out, grasping Christine's hands and forcing her to look at him. But Christine turned her head, knowing that her tears would soon be falling freely onto her cheeks.

"No, listen to me; we are going to find a way through this. I'll even help Dr. Andres in his research if it helps make you better. I'm going to make it all okay, Christine, please, I love you." Erik could feel his own tears coming to his eyes as he gently tightened his grip around Christine's hands.

She shook her head and faced Erik again. "I'm going to _die_, Erik. I'm going to die if I keep loving you like this. I love you so much but my heart will break if I love you even more. I can't do that to you. I'm not selfish like that. I _will_ not die so that I can spend my time with you only to be taken away from you so quickly. Please, this is hard enough on me! I can't bear to see you like this." Christine fought to keep her tears in check but they just kept leaking out of the sides of her eyes.

"No, please, you're the best thing that ever happened to me. You won't die. You won't die." Erik began to kiss Christine everywhere on her face, trying to let her feel what he was feeling inside for her. He moved to kiss her lips but Christine shook her head and placed her thin fingers against his mouth. Erik tried to brush it away but instead, Christine placed the back of her fingers against her own pale lips, pleading with her tear-filled eyes.

Erik's heart was breaking; he could feel it. He had never felt so strongly about another person ever in his life. He needed to fight for this; they had to fight for their love because it was so unique and strong—_why was Christine pushing him away?_

He pulled away and started walking towards the door. He couldn't bear to leave Christine in her anguished and torn up feelings but she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"No, no, please don't go." Christine's voice broke at the last word and more tears flowed out of her eyes. Erik turned around and threw his hands out in frustration.

"I don't know what to do, Christine! I want to love you, but you won't let me! I want to leave, but you ask me to stay! You need to make up your mind because I have! I will _never_ stop loving you."

"I know you won't. But please, just stay for a while? Please…"

Erik knew better than to let his feelings get in the way of his decisions. Christine just woke up from a very troubling sleep and he was making it more difficult for her to get better. He decided to stay.

He nodded his head and moved back to his usual place on the armchair, refusing to meet Christine's pained stare. She quietly let out the breath that she'd unknowingly been holding. She leaned her head back against her pillow and she felt more exhausted. Silence enveloped both of them again.

Soon enough, Christine drifted back to sleep despite her being unconscious for a long time. All the while, Erik was holding her hand and staring hard at her pale knuckles, tracing the thin veins that tangled around under her skin. He noticed her quiet breathing and finally looked at her face. How could he have fallen in love with such an angel that all but ripped his aching heart right out of his chest?

He lightly disengaged his fingers from Christine's hand and deftly wiped the streams of tears on her cheeks with the back of his fingers. She moaned in her sleep and readjusted her head. He definitely knew that he couldn't stay there any longer so he wrote a note on the hospital pad on the side table, folded the paper in half and placed it on his armchair. He crept out of the room without looking back.

-oOo-

Uneasily, Christine opened her eyes, searching for Erik's in front of her. The armchair was empty save for a folded piece of paper. She reached over and grabbed it. With a heavy heart, she read the note written in his elegant handwriting.

_I called Meg to watch you. If she isn't here yet, then you've woken before she arrived. I couldn't stay, Christine. I still love you._

_~Erik_

The door creaked open and Meg's head bobbed in.

"Christine?"

She glanced over at her friend, not realizing that her tears had once again fallen down her face.

"He's gone, isn't he?"

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you KNOW you want to press that little green button...thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Doritos, or Hershey's. for some reason, i had a LOT of fun with this chapter. i should make it more of the dialogue-y kind of chapter i guess. i should like to hear your feed back on that. its just because feel like i haven't been adding enough dialogue to this story.

disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...

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Meg nodded. A wave of rejection flowed over Christine and she found herself bawling even more; her shoulders jerking as her silent sobs racked her frail body. Meg instinctively sat down on Christine's bed and wrapped an arm around her, trying to soothe her sick friend. Christine was so into crying that she didn't even noticed Raoul creep into the room and sit down in Erik's usual seat. He sympathetically eyed Christine but allowed the two girls their moment. He then brought out a business periodical and settled into the armchair quietly.

After what seemed like an eternity, Christine finally calmed down. Meg handed her a cup of water and Christine sullenly drank everything. She hiccuped a bit and she placed a hand over her heart that was palpitating.

"He's coming back, you know." Meg whispered. She'd adjusted her position so that she was also lying on the bed, stroking Christine's hair.

"How do you know that? Even _I_ don't know that and you've never even _met _the guy." Christine answered crossly. It was true and Christine felt immature for acting so indifferently but she couldn't help what she felt inside.

"True. But I know what's in his heart."

Silence. The sun was setting lowly, casting a soft orange glow into the sky that seeped into Christine's room. She vaguely wondered what Erik was doing at that moment but then she remembered that she should be angry with him for leaving her. Now, she wasn't going to be able to concentrate on anything else without him by her side supporting her through everything. It was quiet in the room save for the quiet beeping of the EKG monitor and the 'swoosh' of glossy magazine paper.

"It would've been better if I didn't ever meet Erik, wouldn't it?" Christine wondered aloud. If she hadn't fallen in love then she would be saved of all this hospital trouble—and the pain.

"Yeah, but think about it, C, you'd never know what it feels like to actually fall in love. You'd be living a pretty bleak life, don't you think? It's a wonderful thing to fall in love, C."

"In my case, it's the worst thing. But I guess you're kind of right. It's worth everything to be able to hold a man's hand, savoring that moment because he's, well, your everything."

"Are you girls going to keep talking all gooey like that? Because if so, I'll be waiting outside." Raoul looked up from his magazine, a smug grin on his face. It was apathetic of him to say something like that but he was trying to lighten up the mood and both of the girls understood. They responded by laughing.

"Oh, Christine, I've been having these horrible menstrual cramps! I swear, I've had to switch to jumbo tampons." Meg mockingly said, coyly looking at Raoul who had his index fingers in both ears, humming "Pop Goes the Weasel!"

Christine laughed even harder as Meg lifted off of the bed and moved to sit on one of the arms of the chair that Raoul was sitting on. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the head. Christine was watching them but she casually turned to the window that overlooked the hallway and nurse's station, suddenly eager to see what was happening outside.

"Hey, I'm going to go get some chips from the vending machine outside. You girls want anything?" Raoul asked, already getting up from his seat.

"Get me Doritos, babe! And a soda, oh, and a bar of Hershey's!" Meg called out as Raoul grabbed the door knob. He glanced at Christine who shook her head. He smiled and walked out of the room.

"So tell me, are you going to marry him, or what?" Christine turned her head to address Meg whom she caught day dreaming—a gooey smile and glassy eyes, with her head cocked to the side.

"Oh, I don't know. I just know that I love him a lot!" Meg snapped out of her reverie, stretching her arms and back. Christine laughed.

"You guys look really happy together and it looks pretty much sown up from what I can see. Meg, have you—uhm—slept together? Because if you have, I totally support you but I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Well, we haven't gotten to that point but we're getting there pretty quickly. Christine, I think he's the one for me. He's the only one that can make me smile by just hearing his voice through the phone."

Christine knew that Meg had been with a lot of other guys but this time, she looked really serious and happy. She was genuinely pleased to see her best friend find true love. Christine just didn't realize how selfless she really was until Erik's emerald eyes popped into her head.

They were both caught up in their own thoughts and day dreams until Meg spoke up a little while later.

"Do you want me to talk to him for you, C?" Christine knew who she was pertaining to and she had to seriously think about what she was going to say.

Raoul came into the room at that moment, juggling food items in his arms. He laid them onto the table across from Christine's bed completely occupied.

After thinking hard about it, Christine spoke in a small voice.

"I don't know."

-oOo-

"Christine, if you want me to help you get better, you're going to have actually participate here." Dr. Andres sighed, speaking through the intercom. He sat back onto his seat and ran a hand through his thinning hair, wearily monitoring the readings on the screen in front of him. Christine was in the other room, hooked up to a lot of cords and machines, looking rebellious and tired.

She and her doctor were up all morning trying to find some good results from the tests that Dr. Andres had her perform. It was all in preparation for the operation that she was to have but at this point, all they had was research and luck. It had been a few days since Erik left and since then, all they'd been doing were tests and tests again.

"Remind me again why I'm doing this?" Christine called out, fuming mad at her doctor but mostly at herself. She crossed her arms in front of her and glared through the glass window.

"Because you and I both know I'm your only chance at hitting 50 and right now you're making that extremely difficult. Christine, you _know_ that your condition is worsening. Your heart is reacting to even the slightest stimuli. Could you please be more cooperative?"

Christine felt like she was being chided by her father. Well, in retrospect, Dr. Andres was more of a father to her than her own was. Still, she continued to glare, not allowing the bitter truth to sink into her bones and fragile heart.

"Now, will you please, breathe in for me and let's try this again?"

She sucked in a big breath and held it in.

"You're meant to exhale afterward, Christine." Dr. Andres

Letting her breath go, she shook her head, chuckling to herself as Dr. Andres exasperated.

He waited for the monitor to reboot so that they could try it again and he just stared at his patient; it wasn't like her at all to be this difficult.

"Why are you doing this?" Dr. Andres asked over the intercom. Christine hesitated to answer, knowing that the real reason was because she was bitter about Erik leaving her and she just needed an outlet to vent out her negative feelings. She certainly couldn't do it to Meg. She'd slap her silly if anyone vented out on her.

"There! Right there! What ever you're doing, keep doing it! I'm finally getting positive readings. This is amazing." Dr. Andres hovered over the monitor, replacing his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

In the other room, Christine wondered what she had done to make the test work. She hadn't moved at all. All she had thought about was—

"Remarkable! Christine, this is a breakthrough." Dr. Andres stepped out of the control room and entered the testing room. He walked over to his patient and began to detach the cords off of her body.

"Your results are telling me a lot. I won't show you the 'nitty gritty' of it—you probably won't be able to understand, anyway—so I'll just summarize for you. I've discovered the cause of your heart palpitation. Apparently, your case of PCC is merely aggravating your heart's current condition."

He finished unhooking her from the various machines surrounding her seat and she waited quietly for him to continue. She didn't feel like anything else he might have discovered could make her feel any worse knowing that she could die at any moment anyway.

"You've got a harsh congenital abnormality. It's been causing some of the blood pumped to your heart to flow backwards hence the palpitations. I've also discovered a place in your heart valve that has formed rather differently—probably during your development in your mother's womb. Most cases can be cured with certain medicines but in your case, surgery should fix the problem. We can replace—,"

"You found all that out with this test?" Christine asked indifferently, eyeing the numerous machines in the room.

"I know this is hard for you—,"

"No! Stop trying to empathize! You do _not_ know how hard this is for me!" Christine stood up, although much shorter than her doctor, she looked up at him indignantly.

"You have absolutely no idea what it feels like to watch your friends play soccer, wishing you could kick a goal yourself! You have absolutely no idea how hard it is to wake up every morning like you're out of breath and dizzy because your heart is beating too fast. And you have _no_ idea how much it hurts to love someone you literally _cannot_ love!"

Dr. Andres' expression softened as Christine's face became flooded with tears.

"So don't you _dare_ tell me you know how goddamned hard this is for me because you don't! You don't! You don't!" Christine was sobbing harder now, choking on her words. She sank to the floor, leaning against the wall and for the first time, she truly felt like a patient with an incurable heart disease.

Dr. Andres didn't know what to do. He had to stop being her doctor for a minute and be her friend, her father. He quietly sat down beside her and put his arm around her weak body. She leaned against him, fascinated to hear the sound of a strong heart beating normally wishing everything would just disappear except that heartbeat.

-oOo-

"Seriously, stop this bull crap and come over here. You know she needs you." Meg said into her Bluetooth ear piece while fixing some of Christine's stuff in the bathroom.

"_Meg, really, you think that this is any easier for me? To watch her life slip away while I stand back and let it happen?"_ Erik's deep voice filtered through the bad connection and Meg pressed her Bluetooth more firmly to her ear.

"Oh, so you think that this is any easier for her? Uh, reality check, _she_ has the heart problem, not you. So can you please suck up your male ego—,"

"_My male ego?"_ Erik chuckled. _"Meg,that is the last thing on my mind right now. I just spent the last 20 minutes crying my eyes—okay that was beside the point. The point is, if I stayed there, it'd only make her condition worse! You—I—look, I can't just go in there expecting everything to be alright."_

"But if I knew Christine, which I do, she'd only want to be with you. So think about it—oh, I got to go—," Meg pressed a button on her ear piece as she heard the door creak open and saw a tired Christine crawl into her bed and roll up into the covers.

"Who were you talking to?" Christine called out from the bed.

"Oh, just a girl from my History class asking about some homework." Meg replied, arranging their toothbrushes in a cup on the sink.

_College._ Christine thought about how much she was missing at school and wondered if she would ever be able to finish her course. But she couldn't worry about that for the time being. Both she and Dr. Andres were busy all morning with the tests and everything that she decided to reward herself with sleep.

-oOo-

"…_she'd only want to be with you."_ These were the last words that registered into Erik's mind. After that, all that he could hear was the dial tone on the other line. He put his cell phone away and rubbed his nape.

Erik never really was much of a drinker but at the moment, he was nursing his second bottle for the day believing that this is what people do when they are really depressed. As he took a swig of his beer, he removed his mask and started to clean the soft contours inside.

He wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. He thought about why he couldn't find the courage to be with Christine. The very thought of her dying was enough to make Erik feel insane but for the time being, he would've been able to handle it. He wasn't afraid of commitment, was he?

Blinking into realization, he stopped wiping his mask and shook his head. He was _terrified_ of commitment. All those things that he'd said to Christine the day before were what he truly felt inside but really, he didn't know how he was going to do it. It was a huge shocker that someone would reciprocate his feelings. Who knew that someone would want to love a distorted man? From that point, he didn't know what to do next.

_What does your heart tell you to do?_ A small voice chirped in Erik's head. He almost laughed at himself for hearing voices in his head, but these times were getting stranger and stranger for him. He got up from his seat, threw his bottle into the trash and put his mask on.

He was being ridiculous; of course he had to be with Christine. He wouldn't want to miss anything that happened to Christine for the world. He stuck his key into the ignition and revved the car to life. Careful not to push the speed limit, Erik stayed under it but just enough to keep his sanity.

Finally making it to the hospital, he walked through the doors, barely noticing the nurses greeting him whom he'd befriended while he was there. He took the stairwell to Christine's room; the elevator wasn't fast enough for him. In his anxiety, he almost ran into an emergency that was crowded by a lot of doctors trying to get their patient to the OR. But at last, he got to her room.

Thinking that it would be a dramatic entrance if he swung the door open, he did just that. With a wide smile on his face, he opened the door.

"Christine, I—," Erik's heart stopped when he realized that she wasn't there. The machines were gone; not even Meg was there. The room was empty.

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PLEASE review. if u had as much fun reading this as me making it, then u'll do me the favor of pressing that green button :)


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry, sorry for the delay! i kept adding bits and piecesto this chapter but i never really got the full time to finish it until today! its a good chapter, trust me. please read and review =)

disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...  
_

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God, today was such an exhausting day. All those tests. What does Andres want to prove to me? He knows, and I know…that there isn't hope for me anymore. Let him put a name to my death but please, spare me the thought of dying alone, without the warmth and touch of _him_. I knew Meg was talking with him, I'm not mad at her for lying to me; I think that I should actually be grateful for having a friend like her. But I'm just so tired. My chest is hurting so much today. I'm tired of living my life in constant pain. My childhood was ruined because of this and I won't have it ruin my life _or_ others'. Not anymore. Please, just take the pain away. Please…_

There comes a time in a person's life when all that matters is that single moment that could change everything. Everything else pales in comparison. An infinitesimal second; a blink of an eye. Life could be gone with a snap of your fingers. These moments are stimulated by an action, an event, a thought. But for Meg Giry, _her_ moment had borne a sound. A flat, monotonous sound indicating the loss of movement; the loss of life. This was her moment; it was Christine's sound.

Meg dropped everything that she'd been arranging on the bathroom sink at the sound of the EKG failing. She ran into the room and fixated her eyes upon the monitor with a straight line etched across it. She couldn't find the will to move her legs but to keep frozen in a position that hovered over the foot of the dormant Christine's bed. After 10 seconds of not breathing, Meg heard movement just outside of the door and a group of nurses and residing doctors burst into the room wheeling a crash cart.

One of the nurses politely pushed Meg to the side of the room so that they could lower the railings of the bed. One of the doctors applied the electricity-resisting gel to the defibrillator paddles and rubbed them together swiftly. The other people were preparing other tools that might be needed in case the defibrillator failed to work but at the instant command of the doctor, everyone moved away from Christine and watched alertly as she jolted in reaction to the electric surge running through the paddles.

The EKG monitor picked up on the shock but flat-lined thereafter. The doctor asked the nurse to charge it higher and once again placed it at strategic points on Christine's chest.

"Clear!"

Still, nothing.

Meg began to cry hysterically, heaving shuddering breaths as sobs racked her body. Just as the doctor was about to call the time of death, the EKG monitor began to emit weak pulsating sounds, and the line on the screen was no longer straight but it wasn't the way it should have been either.

"We've got a pulse, people! Let's take her off of these machines. She needs to get into the OR _now!_" The doctor ordered as the team of doctors and nurses began to wheel Christine's bed out of the door.

"You paged me code blue!" Suddenly, Dr. Andres appeared at the door and looked stunned as he witnessed the nurses moving the bed but he maintained his composure in the situation.

"She flat-lined but we got her back and she's got a pulse, Andres, but it's weak. She needs to get into the OR." The doctor filled Dr. Andres with the details and they made their way out of the room.

Meg was still sobbing but ran after them anyway. They sped across the hallway; the people making way for them to pass through, but a man running from the opposite direction almost crashed into the group of doctors but he swiftly maneuvered himself out of the way. The operating rooms weren't far from Christine's room and they finally reached the swiveling doors that led to the surgical wing of the hospital. Meg was about to follow them through the doors but a doctor stopped her in her tracks.

"I'm sorry, miss, but this is as far as you can go. I'll be coming back to you to update you on Christine's progress but I'm afraid you'll have to wait out here." The doctor put his surgical cap on and quietly walked through the doors.

Silent tears were still streaming down Meg's face but she couldn't just stand in the middle of the hallway. She didn't want to go back to the room and do nothing either so she did the one thing that she knew would help keep her at ease.

Searching for a public pay-phone, she found one beside the vending machine. She took out her quarters and popped them into the coin slot. Dialing the only number that remained the most vivid in her mind, she held onto the phone for dear life.

"Raoul?"

-oOo-

The room was empty. Erik's heart sunk, and so did his other internal organs. He walked sullenly into the room, searching for an answer; searching for his love. After all the self-pity that he went through to realize what he really wanted in life, he felt like crawling back into that same, little hole where he could take his mask off and weep for everything. But he had made a decision; love matters after all and it's all he'll ever be able to think about for the rest of his life.

_She couldn't have just left, couldn't she?_ Erik thought to himself._ Unless…_

He couldn't bring himself to think it. She just _had_ to be alive still, or else he would've felt a part of him die, too. No, she was his everything. _He_ would've died as well. Confident in his assertion, he looked around the room for clues. Sweat had started to form on Erik's forehead but he didn't care. Walking into the bathroom, he noticed that Meg's and Christine's personal effects were still there; unpacked. Christine was still in the hospital, and it soothed Erik momentarily but then it hit him.

The emergency that he'd almost run into just a moment ago was not any ordinary emergency. Something had happened to Christine! His eyes widened and sped out of the room towards the direction of the only place in the hospital that would have anything to do with saving a life.

_His_ life depended on it.

-oOo-

After ringing up Raoul to ask him to come over, Meg decided to stay near the operating rooms in case the doctor would look for her. She found a patient's lounge near the main reception area and walked over to sit down on one of the armchairs. Several other people were sitting down there and they all had the same, distinct expression etched across their faces. Anxiety. Fear. Meg knew that she had the same look on her face but she could care less about anything else in the world because what mattered was happening was in OR 3 spread across an operating table under lights, scalpels, and surgeon.

Meg wouldn't know what to do if ever Christine didn't make it. The very thought of it made Meg feel even worse and she put her head in her hands that were resting on her lap. Christine had been with her through everything and she was her rock, her sister, her friend. In all of Meg's crazy plans, Christine was there to subdue her and keep her steady. At the same time, Meg was all that Christine had. They took care of each other and the other was always present in the other's life. Two peas in a pod, they were.

"Meg!" She looked up, puzzled, that the voice did not belong to Raoul or the doctor. Erik hunched over, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

"What…happened…to Christine?" He managed to heave out in between heavy pants. The other people in the lounge looked at him indifferently but he ignored them all.

"S-she just suddenly…died, but…only for a moment because the doctors were able to revive her again." Meg spoke softly, afraid that her quivering voice would betray her as opposed to how her tears freely leaked on her face.

"They have her in the operating room, right?"

"Yeah they do. All we can do now is to wait." Meg patted the seat next to her. Erik smoothed his hair back and slumped onto the chair beside Meg's. He took a deep breath and once again they were enveloped in silence.

-oOo-

It was quite a long while before Raoul came brisk walking through the entrance, searching for Meg. She had been leaning against Erik, eyes closed, with his arm around her shoulders. Erik immediately withdrew his arm when he saw Raoul coming towards him. The gesture was harmless and it was merely to comfort both of them amidst the pressuring times but Erik knew better than to keep his arm around another man's girlfriend.

Meg woke up startled and expecting there to be news about Christine but when her eyes met Raoul's blue orbs, she stood up immediately and buried her face into his shirt.

Erik nodded a hello which was responded with a reassuring smile from the man whose shirt was stained with rainwater and saline tears. Meg finally detached herself from her boyfriend and sat down again, pulling Raoul onto the seat next to her. She began filling him in with details and he listened intently. Meanwhile, Raoul stared blankly into space thinking about Christine.

Everything seemed to be moving so slowly to him. Time was relative, he believed that, but could it purposefully be moving at a glacial pace to annoy him? Here he was, worrying over a million things and yet powerless to do anything about them. It drove him crazy that for the first time in his life, he really didn't know what the hell to do.

"…and so we're waiting here for some news, or at least an absolution of the truth." Meg finally ended with a tired sigh.

Sympathetically, Raoul rubbed Meg's shoulders as she finished explaining what happened. As Raoul was comforting her, the young doctor who promised that would update her came out of the surgical wing, immediately finding Meg and walked towards her.

Meg stood up to greet him and crossed her arms in front of her body. Both Raoul and Erik stood up as well, flanking Meg. Raoul had a compassionate expression on his face while Erik struggled to smooth his smoldering gaze.

"We were able to stabilize, Christine."

"That's great! So, is there anything else you need to tell us?" Meg sighed in relief but at the sight of the doctor, it seemed like there was something more.

The doctor looked at his feet, at both men, then squared his eyes with Meg. He spoke. "We carried out with our first attempt at a bypass surgery to cleanse her blood of the hormonal deficiency. It was risky and dangerous since it hasn't been performed by anyone else as it is a specific type of bypass zeroing in on the different contents of her blood. That operation was a complete success but I'm afraid that isn't the worst problem."

"As we were examining Christine's thoracic cavity, we noticed a slight arrhythmia in her right ventricle. Her heart has been under a lot of stress which caused that chamber of her heart to seize, stopping blood flow in that area. Basically put, her heart has been beating itself to death. We've kept her in the intensive care unit so that we can monitor her more carefully. She'll be in there for a while but in an hour or so, visitors will be welcome to see her."

They all looked at the doctor in silence, trying to process the information that he had given them. In the end, it was Erik who was first to speak.

"You said that the bypass surgery was successful, does that mean she doesn't have pneumo-cardioendogenous coagulation anymore?"

"We were able to lower the possibility of the hormonal fluid's tendency to clump as it reaches her heart. Yes, as of now, she won't have anymore problems with PCC."

Erik couldn't believe his ears but he couldn't celebrate just yet. There was still one more question to ask.

"But you also said that her right ventricle is weak. Will—,"

"Is she going to be okay?" Meg finally spoke, interrupting Erik.

"Like I said, all we can do now is to wait until she fully recovers. We had planned to solve the problem while we still had her on the operating table but she needs to regain her strength. She is in a very fragile state at the moment, I'm sure that you can understand."

"Yes, of course. Thank you, doctor."

The doctor nodded. "I'll be informing you when you can visit her," he smiled warmly and left the trio to ponder over what they should do next.

-oOo- _Two hours later_

"Dr. Redford asked me to tell you that you may visit Christine now but only for a short time because she needs her rest." A nurse had quietly knocked on the door of Christine's private room where Erik, Meg, and Raoul had waited. Erik and Meg stood up to leave while Raoul excused himself, saying that they needed their time with her and that three people would be a lot in the ICU.

They followed the nurse into the ICU unit where several beds lined the walls and carried sick patients with tubes all over their bodies. It was quiet inside and it smelled strongly of antiseptic, alcohol, and slowly decaying lives.

The nurse motioned them to the third bed, where Christine lay and told them to be quiet. Meg moved towards the bed though hesitant to touch her. Erik had kneeled beside the bed, leaning into the sleeping Christine.

Christine truly looked like she was at the threshold of death itself and was only holding on because of the various machines and tubes pumping artificial life into her. The unique and inviting aura was gone from her and Erik could no longer feel the warmth in her hands. He lightly stroked her sallow cheek and in an instant, the noise surrounding them faded away, all the people disappeared and there was only Christine, awake and vibrant, and Erik. She blinked at him and murmured "I love you," with which Erik replied with a sweet kiss upon her lips.

The daydream quickly faded and they were both back in the ICU unit, with Meg by the bed and the other patients struggling to live. Meg nudged Erik's shoulder, whispering that they had to leave and so Erik stood up. Before they turned away from her, Erik leaned close to Christine and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"I'll be here only with you, Christine. I promise you that. I won't leave you ever again." Erik whispered against Christine's pallid skin, warming her forehead slightly with his breath.

They walked out of the ICU and Erik was filled with a newly-found spirit of hope. Nothing had ever gone right in Erik's life before he met Christine so he was determined to make their love last forever.

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did i deliver, or what? haha please review! you know it keeps me going! .


	12. Chapter 12

haven't updated in a while i know!! school is eating me so badly right now...anyway well this chapter is a happy and humorous one..well i tried to make it funny in some bits but i don't think i'm really the funny kind of person. anyway..there's lots of...tension in this chapter and it's bound to lead somewhere right? :

disclaim disclaim disclaim...

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_Normal breathing patterns? Check. Steady heartbeats? Check. Complete set of limbs? Check. Well then, Christine, it's time to wake up. Come on, you can do it, just open your eyes. Everyone is waiting for you. Erik might even be there. The operation must have been a success if I can still coherently talk to myself like this. Okay, here I go, I'm opening my eyes now._

Slowly, Christine squinted her eyelids open. The soft sunlight gleamed brightly into her eyes and she had to blink a few times before she saw anything concrete. Directly below the window of light, blocking the rest of the morning rays like Adonis himself, Erik sat casually in his armchair, flipping through one of his music magazines. Christine bit back a smile. She was too caught up in her excited feelings of seeing Erik again then getting mad at him for ever leaving.

"Well, this is unexpected." Thinking that her voice would be a frog's croak, she was surprised at the clarity of her own voice after not using it for—how long exactly had she been sleeping?

Erik's eyes brightened considerably and it made the light behind him that much more realistic. He put the magazine on the side table without removing his eyes from Christine's.

"Seems more like déjà vu, don't you think?" Erik smirked at her and Christine giggled quietly, adjusting herself on the bed.

As soon as Christine was in a slightly upright position, their smiles had quickly faded as waves of their love and longing for each other swept across both of them, making the air around them almost palpable. Their eyes were intently locked onto each other and Christine could feel a door opening inside of her as Erik's eyes peered deeply into hers. A white, feathery light tickled her inside and she realized that their souls were touching.

Erik nearly jumped from his seat as he leaned closer to Christine. Her skin radiated electricity at their proximity and the moment was just like their first kiss all over again. Erik hesitantly came nearer to Christine's face with his eyes still locked on hers until they rested their gaze over her parted lips.

Their noses brushed together once and Christine couldn't wait any longer as she pushed her lips against his. His taste was the same familiar mixture of what a breeze at night would taste like and warm cinnamon apples during Christmas. Their lips moved perfectly together as little by little the tempo of their breaths hitched along with the fervor in their kissing.

Erik hesitantly slid his tongue in Christine's mouth and he reveled at its warmth and delicious taste of spiced strawberries. He placed his hand on her hip but Christine gasped in fright. Automatically, Erik pulled away from her lips and stared at her.

"My heart," Christine breathed. A flurry of emotions spread on her face and Erik couldn't decipher what she was feeling at the moment because there was a hint of fear but also exhilaration.

"What? What is it, Christine?" Erik said urgently, as he was ready to get up and page a doctor immediately.

Christine grasped his forearms and shook her head, wide-eyed. "No, Erik," she put a hand to her chest, smiling brightly. "My heart," she said again, "it's fine."

Erik could almost cry right then and there but he settled for kissing and hugging her. Finally, things were lighting up in his life.

Just then the door opened widely and an aging woman with black hair came through.

"Surprise!" Exclaimed the woman who had not yet registered what was happening and her eyes grew wide.

Christine disengaged herself from Erik's arms and timidly wiped her bottom lip with her fingers before sucking it into her lip. A man, with hair the same hue as Christine's stepped into the threshold beside the woman. Erik straightened up beside the bed with his hands at his sides.

"Mom? Dad?"

Erik gulped.

The woman came closer to Christine and hugged her warmly. She rubbed Christine's back and smiled brightly, wrinkles showing on her face. Her father stepped into the room with his inquisitive eyes on Erik's mask and for once in Erik's life he had felt smaller, like a child, with one look from a stranger. He put his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight uneasily on his feet.

"It's so good to see you, darling." Christine's mother said as she pulled away, wiping a couple stray tears from her eyes. Her father stroked the top of Christine's head and kissed her forehead so casually like he'd been doing all the time.

Her mother finally glanced at Erik who was across from them and tilted her head to the side.

"And who are you?" She asked sweetly. Christine's father put his hands on his hips in a very fatherly manner and addressed Erik with an air of authority. Christine bent her head lowly and bit her lip to keep from smiling.

Erik cleared his throat. "I'm Erik Destler, Christine's boyfriend." Christine's head shot up and she looked crossly at Erik's direction but he ignored her, smiling at her parents.

Shock played on both of their faces but it was Christine's mother who spoke first. "Oh, well, hello there, I'm Emmanuelle, Emma for short. I'm Christine's mother and this is Christopher, her father." Emma regarded Erik with kindness and never once glanced at his mask. Her skin was as white as Christine's but she was at least a head shorter than her. Her hair was shoulder length and black but up close, the strands of silver and white hair were visible. Emma had womanly curves—Erik realized where she got her figure from, but Christine took more after her father. Christopher was a tall man, wavy dark brown hair that was receding from his forehead. He had almond-shaped eyes the color of warm amber and the shape of his face was very much like Christine's: curved cheekbones but a nicely-pointed chin. Christopher looked at Erik with a very stolid expression and Erik couldn't read him at all though usually it would've been very easy to.

"It's very nice to meet you both." Erik extended a trembling hand over the bed and Emma slipped her small hand in it. When Christopher shook his hand, Erik winced unnoticeably.

"Mom, when did you guys get here? How did you find out?" Christine spoke up, confusion furrowed in her brow.

"Oh, Meg called us dear. We thought that she'd told you we were flying in. We got here as fast as we could when we heard the news. Oh, my poor baby." Emma stroked Christine's hair causing her to blush. Christine cast a sideways glance at Erik who was standing surreptitiously near the corner of the room. He was very uncomfortable because he felt like he was peering into the personal life of their family—something that he never knew about.

"Meg also said that you were out for a long time, Christine. How long exactly was that?" It was the first time Erik heard Christopher speak and his deep tenor voice reverberated in the room. It was a warm, kind voice but it also had the potential to be very strict and powerful.

"I-I don't know exactly," Christine looked up at Erik for an answer and both her parents followed suit.

"It's been pretty close to a week." Erik shoved his hands in his pockets as the three faces in front of him registered his answer with utter shock and disbelief.

"Well, she woke up a couple times but then I guess she didn't remember. She dozed off right away though."

"I think I want to try getting up now," Christine thought out loud, while attempting to brace herself on her arms. Erik instinctively dove in and let her lean against his side for support. Emma and Christopher both stepped back to give them space though there was some hesitation to Christine's father who moved to help her as well.

There was a quiet rapping on the door and Dr. Andres' head peeped inside the room.

"Did I hear a couple of lovebird fly in from Los Angeles?" he coaxed with a smile. Erik wondered in awe how the whole family was deeply connected with Christine's doctor. Christine smiled a hello to her doctor while her parents moved to greet him as warmly.

"They were just going out to give Christine some time to stretch out her legs." Emma answered Dr. Andres' unsaid question.

"I guess that gives us some time to catch up then! Christine, I'll be with you in a minute."

Braced by Erik's strong arms, Christine made her way out of the room and into the hallway. Usually it was bustling with a lot of people but with her fingers, she could count the number of people walking.

"What time is it?"

"A little past seven in the morning, Christine." Erik didn't even glance at his watch, instead he kept his eyes on her with an intent stare.

They walked a little bit farther down the hallway until Christine said that she could walk on her own. Erik was reluctant to let her go but the cute expression of frustration on Christine's face was too adorable. Then suddenly Christine punched Erik's arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" Erik rubbed his bicep and cocked a playful brow while smirking a little bit.

"Oh c'mon that didn't hurt one bit. Why did you have to drop the BF-bomb so early? You barely even know my parents and they barely even know you!" Christine looked up at Erik with so much as a child's pent up irritation and he was loving every minute of it.

"Let's face it; with my looks and your condition, we don't exactly have the luxury of a normal relationship. I was thinking that getting all the cards out seemed the right decision. Your parents deserve to know about me, Christine. Unless of course, I'm not that important to you than I thought I was." Erik pretended to look extremely depressed and this time Christine playfully punched him. Erik gave a wolfy grin.

"I guess you're right. It's just that—my parents are sort of the protective type—my dad, most especially. You have no idea how many debates we got into just to let me enter CU. I had to promise that Meg would be with me all the time and that only barely got me through. Sometimes I pity Meg for having her watch my back all the time." Christine spoke quietly, like she was speaking mostly to herself.

"Meg cares a lot about you and she wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"Yeah, I know."

"Neither will I." They stopped walking in the middle of the nearly deserted hallway and faced each other, their bodies very close.

"Erik, you left me once before."

"I know that it was a stupid move but please allow me to make it up to you, Christine. If you'll let me, I'll spend my whole life making it up to you." Erik looked deep into her eyes, attempting to regain the connection they shared back in the room when she woke up.

Christine could really feel their love growing stronger and stronger and it pressed them into their own little sanctuary where the living world was quiet and still, and their world was everything and nothing, loud but quiet, bright yet dark. They could feel something else too. The heavy, raw tension between their bodies was almost too overwhelming that Christine had to act fast.

"Will you do something for me then?"

"Anything." The color of Erik's eyes deepened considerably and it made Christine shiver

"Kiss me."

So he did and it was slow at first. He didn't know how much Christine wanted but as soon as she opened her mouth to him, all he could do was get lost in the feeling of her soft lips moving against his, her soft and warm tongue caressing the inside of his mouth, and the very quiet moans escaping her throats as they attempted to increase the friction between their bodies. Erik groaned against her lips as the front of her body pressed against his while Christine breathed into his mouth.

Reluctantly, they pulled away slowly. Erik wrapped his arms around Christine and she snuggled closer to him. It hardly occurred to them that they were standing in the middle of the hallway.

"You want to know something?" Christine whispered against Erik's chest.

"Of course, love." Erik kissed the top of her head in encouragement

"I can feel your arms wrapped around me, your lips against mine, _and_ my heart racing fast for you."

Erik's arms tightened around her body and he murmured 'I love you' into her hair.

"You want to know something else?" Christine pulled away from his body to look at him directly.

"Mmh?"

"We're out here close to ripping each other's clothes off and my parents and my doctor are inside my room talking about their last trip in LA."

Erik chuckled and hooked his arm around her waist while they began to travel back to her room. When they got inside, Dr. Andres was just in the middle of telling a joke but already Emma and Christopher were laughing.

"Oh, Christine! Sorry I wasn't able to catch up. It's just that your parents apparently have a lot catching up to do." That got her parents snickering again and Christine could only imagine what they were talking about earlier. Dr. Andres got up from sitting on the bed and grabbed the clipboard from the desk near the window. He began flitting through the pages.

"I've already drummed up a schedule for your exercise program. Don't worry, this isn't bowling. There are breathing exercises and other types of physical therapy—just so that I can validate your improvement."

"Sounds good. If you'll excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom." Christine replied, already on her way to the bathroom. Once the door was closed, Christopher looked directly at Erik who tried to look indifferent.

"What are your intentions with my daughter?" He asked, taking the authoritative voice.

Emma shook her head but a playful grin played across her lips. It was amusing to her that even though Christine was a grown woman her father would still treat her as a twelve year old girl.

Nevertheless, Erik answered him politely. "I can assure you sir, that my intentions are pure and that I love your daughter very much." Erik was so elated with his profound feelings that he wanted to scream it all out loud.

"Aren't you a little too old for Christine?"

"With all due respect sir, I believe that she is old enough to make her own decisions, this being a right one."

"What makes you so sure about that?"

"Because sir, Christine is so serious about me that even Meg decided that it was time for me to meet you all or else she wouldn't have called you to come at this time. She's so serious about me that she wears my favorite cologne on her every time I see her. She's so serious about me that she isn't even stopping you from interrogating me right now because she wants to give you a chance to get to know me. Christine, please come out now."

The bathroom door squeaked open and Christine came out quietly, her expression in a state of wonder and desire. Christopher looked agape at Erik, too stunned to say anything else.

"I love you, Erik." Christine said so confidently that she emphasized every word.

Casually, Erik replied, "Well, I love you too, Christine."

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worthy of a review? =) pls leave me one =)


	13. Chapter 13

yes, i know you want to hug me for updating relatively earlier than i usually do. i just got excited! well, i think i went a little overboard with this chapter but i couldn't stop myself. i had to continue...in this chapter, the italicized portion is a flashback of Erik's. that's all im going to say for now!

lots of fluff, lots of my favorite kind of tension, and lots of sadness too. but i can say that this, i think, is my favorite chapter =)

disclaim, disclaim, disclaim

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Three weeks had past and Christine was gaining her strength back at a remarkable rate. Everyday, more and more machines were taken out of her room as they were no longer needed. Christine's prescribed diet of mostly fluids was turning into a menu of more concrete foods with more protein and carbohydrates to support her exercise. Her physical therapy sessions were helping her immensely and Dr. Andres reported that after just a couple more days, Christine would actually be able to go home. Of course, Erik, Meg and Raoul, and her parents were by her side supporting her also. Being surrounded with all kinds of love, Christine believed that she was living in her happiest moment—despite the reason _why_ they were all behind her, anticipating her to fall.

She didn't want to be obvious but she could notice how they—including her doctor, would have hushed conversations when they think she's sleeping, or when she's in the bathroom being really quiet. The only good coming out of these secret talks was that her father and Erik were finally getting along if not on the same page. Somehow, Christopher had finally accepted that his daughter was no long the round-faced little angel he could bounce on his knee, but was now a beautifully grown young woman who was getting so serious with a boy that he could do nothing but stand down.

It was in the way they looked at each other. The strong connection with their eyes was so strong that it was almost palpable. It was in every little movement either one of them made. When Erik shifted in his position in his seat, Christine would follow suit or vice versa. They were tied to each other and one could only imagine what life would be like if one of them would be fated to die.

-oOo-

"Tell me the truth," said Christine, getting out of the shower. Today she was going home. Erik was in the patient's room, packing some of Christine's belongings. Her parents left early; their flight back home had been moved up. It was a while before Christine got them to ride in the cab because Emma made Christine promise that she would be more careful this time. Christine vowed to her mother and hugged her goodbye. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her father shaking Erik's hand and muttering something unintelligible to her but she saw Erik listening intently.

"What?" Erik was in the middle of packing Christine's shirts and he raised his head up indifferently.

"Oh, come off it. I know you and everyone else would be gossiping behind my back every time you think I'm not listening. What is going on?" Christine walked over to Erik, making him drop her clothes.

Erik cocked an eyebrow. "Love, we're hardly gossiping about you," he continued to pack, while watching Christine folding her arms over her chest. "You know, I've grown quite fond of your father, and I hope he feels the same way. In the short time that we got to talking, I've gotten onto some common ground with him."

Hearing Erik say that he was bonding with her father was almost enough to make Christine crack a smile and forget what she was asking of him. She knew better though. "Don't change the subject! What have you been talking about with them? Is something wrong? There's something wrong with me, isn't there? "

Erik sighed in defeat. He shoved the clothes-bag out of the way so that he could sit on the edge of the gurney. He motioned with open arms for Christine to sit on his lap but she refused. Erik chuckled at her stubbornness and pulled her flush against his body, causing her to melt into his warm embrace. She sighed and clutched at the front of his chest while he stroked her soft, brown hair.

"We only talk about how we want you safe, Christine." Erik breathed into her hair as she closed her eyes. "To tell you the truth, Dr. Andres is a brilliant doctor, but none of us are convinced that you truly are healed. We're just trying to anticipate everything so that we can be ready; whatever happens."

Christine pulled away to look into his eyes which were glowing a soft green color like the rippling leaves of summer. She could see years of wisdom in those green pools of light and his profound love for her. She wondered why it wasn't enough.

"Why isn't my being here in your arms enough? Must everyone question the good? _I'm_ the one here with the sickness; _I_ should decide whether to be nervous or happy. I don't need anyone to be worried for me. It just makes me believe that this is all a bad dream and that I'll wake up only to close my eyes forever. Then I'll never be able to see your beautiful face again." Christine stroked the soft contours of his mask and this by far was always the most intimate gesture for Erik. It made him believe that she loved him unconditionally.

He was stunned into silence for a moment. No one had called him beautiful until he'd heard it uttered from the angel sitting on his lap, resting in his arms. Somehow, that embrace wasn't enough so he pulled Christine's face nearer to his and caught her lips in a searing kiss with his own. It seemed to last forever: the steady, synchronized way their lips and tongues moved against each other; the careful way Erik shifted Christine on his lap so that she was straddling him; the innocent, hesitant way Christine pushed her body against Erik's until both of them couldn't take it any longer.

"Oh my God, Christine. I need you." Erik breathed against her swollen lips, breaking the kiss momentarily. Christine responded with a moan and a more confident rocking of her hips.

"Wait, stop. Oh, Christine," Erik voiced out more strongly. His head was spinning but now wasn't the time. He gently pushed Christine away from his throbbing lower abdomen and held her face in his hands—the rejection evident in her eyes.

"No, baby, it's not that I don't want you now. It's just that we're in a hospital, you just got out of recovery, and—I don't want to lose control with you." Christine looked up at him then, and inwardly groaned to see that his eyes had turned a shade darker, the lust in them mirroring Christine's.

"And I know that it'd be your first time. I just, I need to be sure that you'd want it—with me."

"How could I not want it with you?" Christine punctuated her rhetorical question by leaning closer and grazing the tip of her tongue along the column of Erik's throat. He audibly groaned, fighting the little self-restraint he had left.

"Christine, be serious. Now is definitely not the time." Erik said with a more final tone in his voice. Slumping against his thighs, Christine sighed softly. Erik chuckled while running a hand through her hair, attempting to smooth it out.

"Love, one of us has to have control."

-oOo-

In less than an hour, they'd checked out of the hospital and piled Christine's bags into Erik's Vios.

Watching Erik close the trunk, Christine nodded approvingly. "New car?"

Erik stretched out his arms a bit, exposing the band of his boxers, and the enigmatic v-line that lead to—

"Yeah, I figured it was time to let the other car go. Vios, it's environment friendly."

Christine's eyes shot back up and she hoped that he didn't notice her ogling. "Vios? That's a girl car." She suppressed a giggle.

"It is not," Erik said indignantly while Christine laughed. He walked over to her near the passenger door and backed her up until her legs hit the cool metal. He trapped her by resting the heels of his hands on the car and smirked when he noticed Christine gasp softly. "But if it is, do you take an interest in it?" Erik said; his voice unnecessarily deep and velvety.

Two could play at his game.

"If I did, what would you do about it, Mr. Destler?" Christine replied, her voice dripping with sweet, flirtatious notes. She ran a finger along the collar of his shirt while looking up at him through her lashes. He was much taller than she was so it wasn't a problem.

"I was actually thinking of giving it to you one day."

In disbelief, she looked up at him fully. "What?"

Erik backed up and put his hands in his back pockets, casually. "Yeah, you heard me. If you're nice to me, of course." He said, his voice sounding foolishly businesslike.

"I-I don't know what to say! I can't believe you! Wow, this is amazing!" She lunged forward and hugged him tightly, laughing joyously.

"I love you." He heard Christine mutter in his ear and he nuzzled further into her neck.

Reluctantly, they broke away and climbed into the car. The sun was setting on the horizon so Erik asked her if she was hungry.

"Ooh, let's go to Teriyaki Boy! C'mon my treat." Christine suggested while wiggling her eyebrows playfully. Erik refused to let her pay.

"Why not? It's the least I can do for this wonderful gift you've given me."

"Please, Christine, you're flattering me. I'll take you to wherever you want to go, but let me pay, okay?"

Christine scoffed. "Do you _always_ have to be the gentleman?" She buckled into her seat and crossed her arms. Erik started the engine and turned the air on, chuckling.

"In these cases, yes, ma'am, I do."_ But there are other cases, too, love_, Erik hesitated to add but didn't.

Fifteen minutes later, after a car ride that consisted of fighting over the radio station, they finally arrived at the restaurant. The sun was fully rested upon the edges of the mountains far away and the waning moon took its place as guardian of the sky. Erik and Christine were lucky to get seats because it was rush hour and everyone was out to get some dinner on a Thursday evening.

They were ushered into the restaurant and seated near the indoor gazebo. The restaurant had a very rich Japanese setting, with mats and cushions as seats and bamboo-paper walls dividing parts of the room. A banzai tree was the décor on each of the low, wooden tables and the atmosphere was fragrant with tea leaves and cherry blossoms. From the menu, Christine chose her favorite _don buri_ while Erik decided to try something more interesting—_chirashidon_.

"_Chirashidon?_" Christine smirked.

"Something wrong with that, missy?"

"No, no. Nothing's wrong." Christine replied, suppressing laughter. He obviously didn't know that _chirashidon_ was a rice bowl filled with different kinds of raw fish, ginger, and delicately pickled papaya and bitter gourd. When their orders arrived, Christine noticed how Erik's eyes widened in shock. She couldn't contain her laughter.

"You should really read the fine print." Christine managed to say through her laughs.

"What are you talking about? I love this stuff!" Erik replied rather unconvincingly, while using his chopsticks to pick through what he _could _eat. This caused Christine to laugh more and she started to hold her stomach, shaking her head non-verbally asking Erik to make her stop laughing. This felt nice for Erik. For once in their relationship they were carefree. Each moment wasn't so intense and he was able to show Christine how playful he could be despite the imposition of the shroud over half of his face.

When the laughter simmered down, Christine began to eat her rice bowl and Erik asked her what she wanted to do now that she was out of the hospital.

"I'll be going back to school, most probably. I don't know how much I've missed but I know that it's enough to postpone my graduation for a little while." Christine shrugged.

"But you're at the top of you classes! Surely your professors would be willing to reconsider detaining you from your block." Erik suddenly looked serious, his eyes settling into his normal, piercing gaze. Christine looked amused.

"Surely my professors will not be so kind as to allowing me to receive my diploma with the rest of my block mates." Christine mocked Erik's formal use of words. He would talk like this every now and then, but it didn't bother Christine so much. It did, however, get her thinking how a proper-speaking, car-gifting, gentleman ended up as the maintenance guy at a bowling stadium.

As if reading her mind, Erik spoke up. "I wasn't always a mechanic, you know."

Intrigued by what the open-endedness of Erik's statement, Christine felt happy that she was going to learn more about Erik's past. He knew so much about her from their own experiences that she deemed it only fair that he shed some light onto his history.

"I'm not as old as you might think I am but I am old enough to have had enough to deal with for a lifetime." Christine almost felt guilty for coming into his life. Her sickness must have really added up to his miseries in life.

"And I didn't always have this mask, either. I was born in South Carolina—yeah, I'm guessing that's where my good manners came from, I still have them now," his voice trailing off as he remembered how he'd ambushed Dr. Andres weeks ago. "Anyway, yeah, I was an only child and my parents ran the textile factory of our town and owned a couple farming lands nearer the countryside—typical Southern royalty, I guess."

"But I wasn't ever interested in all of that. No, I loved the arts. Literature, paintings, but above all, I loved music. I remember when I was about twelve years old, my mother had our old, family organ restored and tuned. I was so happy! I asked them to hire me a piano tutor and that's were I got really serious about my passion. My mother supported me, but to this day, I can still hear my father's disapproval of me. He wanted me to take over the family business."

Christine didn't even notice how she wasn't taking bites from her bowl anymore. Her eyes were stuck on Erik's face, concentrating on what he was saying. Erik continued.

"About a year later, my parents divorced. It was a really messy thing. They fought over everything, including who rightfully owned the house and everything. Well, technically, the house belonged to my mother but my father insisted to the judge that he should have the house and the lands and the textile factory. Not once did he mention wanting me. Naturally, with my father being the very eloquent and persuasive man that he is, was granted the house and everything else. Luckily, the prenuptial agreement gave me and my mother enough to survive in a small, but good house just twenty minutes away from where my father was.

"One day, my mother took me to my father for the routine switch that they did every two weeks. They'd decided on a joint custody. Well, we went into the house and it smelled awfully like gin and hard liquor. We were about to leave when we heard my father careening down the stairs, drunk."

"_Martha! Erik! Have you come here to beg me to take you back?" Ronald slurred over his words, laughing as he nearly tripped his way down the grand staircase._

"_Ronald, I'm here to drop off our boy. What's gotten into you?" Martha replied strongly, though the fear was evident in her wide, green eyes. Young Erik was standing tightly against his mother's side, bending his head down so that he wouldn't have to see his father._

"_What's gotten into me? I'm just here enjoying the spoils of my fortune! You'd be here with me, too, if you hadn't slept with my best friend."_

"_You take that back, you sack o' wine!" Martha shrilled, her accent emphasizing her emotions. "You and I both know that I did not sleep with Perry! It was you who always dallied with the women workers while I was at home, helping to take care of our baby!"_

"_Don't you dare talk shit about me, woman!" Ronald came closer but in his drunkenness bumped into the organ, jarring it a little. He yelped in pain and began hitting the wooden piano with the nearest vase._

_Erik peeked out from behind his mother and ran towards his father who was destroying his most prized possession. "NO! Stop it, you're hurting it!" He cried, while attempting to pull his father from the organ. Ronald turned towards his son, hoisting him off the ground and throwing him into the organ where Erik lost consciousness and half of his face._

"Luckily I got out of that situation alive, if not whole, but my mother wasn't so fortunate." Christine had tears in her eyes. Erik didn't want to make her feel any sadder but bringing up buried emotions wasn't easy and he felt that he had to finish what he started.

"In her efforts to pick me up from the pile of what used to be my beloved piano and run away from my father, he got to her first and—," Erik surprised himself when he heard his own voice break. Christine grasped his hand, letting him know that he didn't have to say anymore.

"So then I left South Carolina with child services and they brought me here to Boston. Christine you have no idea how shaken up my entire teenage life was. I later learned that my father had shot himself out of depression and in his will—he must have forgotten to edit it or whatever—he left me everything: the lands, the business, the money. Knowing that I would need it in the future, I took the money but I left everything else with my mother's relatives.

"That's why I have this mask which I had custom made in Australia, my face had never fully healed to what it used to look like. My life was so dark, Christine. I graduated college with degrees that would allow me to enter in almost any profession but I was at a loss. I didn't know what else to do with my life. Bowling had always been an enjoyable past time so I decided that for a little while, I'd do that.

"Life was so unsatisfying. I realize now that for almost 17 years, I haven't touched a piano. Then you came into my life, Christine and oh, how you revived me! From living a bleak existence, you restored in me the passion of life and every rejuvenating breath I've taken since I first saw you, I've thanked God for giving me you. You're my new music, Christine. You're my new life."

And in front of the other costumers, the waiters, Christine, Erik wept.

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you KNOW that this is worthy of a review! i don't know when i'll be able to put up another chapter cuz this is my exam week and i'm actually really really lucky to have gotten the inspiration to write. must have been the reviews i got for my last chapter. you guys are BOMB! i love you all so much!


	14. Chapter 14

Yay! I updated! this chapter has a lot of elements but its just a transitional chapter...something to fill in the gaps from before. but it DOES have some surprises up its sleeve :

i'd like to extend my thanks to Wandering-Recluse for dutifully reading this humble story and giving me constructive advice as well =) thanksss!!!

disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...(there's a mention of John Legend's Cross The Line so i disclaim that too)

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Immobilized by her loss for words, Christine could only gaze empathetically at Erik who'd dropped his chopsticks and broken down into tears. His quiet sobbing and subtle shuddering wasn't enough to draw a lot of attention but it did earn their table a couple of sideward glances by nosy costumers. When Christine got the feeling back in her arms and fingers, she timidly reached out a hand to cover Erik's. It wasn't the reaction she was counting on when he suddenly jerked away from her grasp.

Now, questions were running through her mind as her curiosity and concern peaked up. He didn't fully explain why his parents broke up nor did he elaborate much on what had happened after. But knowing that it must have been difficult to unearth hidden memories and emotions, Christine decided that she couldn't just bombard him with questions. That's why she forgave him for rejecting her hand.

Sensing that Erik's tears had slowed down and his eyes began to clear up, Christine risked asking a question. "C-Can I ask a question?"

"I don't suppose why not." Erik replied quietly as he sniffed away the last of his tears.

"Why exactly did your parents file for a divorce? It seemed like your family had the perfect life; you had everything. I don't understand."

"We had everything and nothing. We were rich but money wasn't enough to fill the gaps in our hearts—especially mine and my mother's. All my childhood I'd wanted my father's attention. My mother had given me enough; she had showered me with love and care hoping that what she was doing was enough to substitute my father's indifference towards me." Erik looked up at Christine with pain-filled eyes. "I hate him, Christine. I hate him for killing my mother. I hate him for giving me this fucking face. I hate him for being my father!"

Christine had never heard Erik swear before and she knew that his father's memory was bringing out his pent up rage and anger that he had tried to keep hidden with his gentlemanliness and eloquence. She was seeing a deeper side of Erik, the one that explain all facets of him. Despite the awkward situation and the intense heat radiating from Erik's body, Christine couldn't help but think she loved him more this moment than any other because of it.

They ate the rest of their food in silence because Christine hadn't dared to ask another question. With all of Erik's hatred for his father, she understood that he was capable of doing anything under the heavy influence of his temper. Erik called for the check and handed a large bill to the waiter.

"Keep the change." Erik muttered as he stood up, avoiding Christine's eyes. Suddenly, she got paranoid that he was angry with her.

Erik still opened the car door for Christine and then he slid into his own. He revved up the engine and allowed it to warm up a little bit although he was gripping the steering wheel rather tightly. The silence between them was different now. It was still the heavy air that seemed to be anticipating something huge to happen but at the same time, it was the kind of silence that meant nothing should be said; nothing should be done.

"Are you mad at me?" Christine asked so quietly that she thought he didn't hear her at all but then Erik's white-knuckled hands relaxed and eventually let go. He looked at Christine with his calculating, green eyes and she felt as if he were her high school teacher reprimanding her for turning in a late assignment. But then after a moment, his eyes had softened as well.

"I don't lose control, Christine."

She didn't reply.

"It's just that, with you, I feel as if I have no boundaries, no limitations. I feel as if even my mask cannot detain me from the rushing emotions I feel inside as I look at you, smell your hair, and kiss your lips."

"Erik—,"

"And I'm afraid of that, Christine. If I lose my self-control, that façade I use to mask the bitterness I feel, I might just explode into tiny pieces and—I don't want you to get hurt. You're the first person to show me what it feels like to be loved in a long time that I've forgotten what to do, almost. Christine, will you do something for me?"

"Anything,"

"Will you promise me? Promise me that you won't leave me? I-I literally don't know what I would do if I would lose you." Erik's voice was small—not his usual confident tenor that was stringed together with his rhythmic accent. This was the Erik that was a little boy 17 years ago: the timid, reluctant, and shy boy that clung to his mother's skirt. A boy destined for greatness in the arts but was instead pushed into the gorge of a rushing river of anguish and brokenness.

"You have me already, Erik." It was all that Christine had to say. Both of them knew that their eye contact was enough to communicate their bond with each other. Words were not necessary but Erik just wanted to hear it out loud.

They leaned into each other and gently brushed their lips together once. Any more and Erik would lose his control entirely.

"Look at us," Erik chuckled as he broke away. "Two lovers caught in the tragic comedy of love."

"No, I think that we both are just really messed up."

-oOo-

They drove the rest of the way to Christine's apartment in silence but Erik had switched the radio on to ease the anxiety of what had just happened. The radio station played RnB and light rock songs and Erik found himself humming along to the music with Christine singing quietly along. Soon, they started singing together even if Erik didn't know all of the lyrics to the songs which got Christine laughing again.

"_Tonight's the night, to cross the border—,_" Erik sang along to John Legend's Cross the Line

"Erik! It's line! Cross the _line_!" Christine laughed.

"Oh, whatever. I don't even like these kinds of songs."

"And yet you find yourself singing along with them. _Baby won't you be mine_," Christine said before closing her eyes and getting lost in the music

"Well, only because I know you like them." Erik glanced at Christine and flashed a half-smile.

"Over-pleaser." Christine made a face at Erik.

"Shorty."

"Car-gifting _maintenance guy._"

Erik laughed. "Okay, okay, enough! Before you bruise my ego!" They turned into her street and Erik expertly parked near the curb.

"Meg home?"

"No, she told me before she left the hospital that she's going to stay Raoul's tonight."

"Funny, I'd figure her to be all protective of you now that you're out of the hospital," Erik looked out of the windshield, pondering over his thoughts.

"Well, I-I sort of asked her to stay at Raoul's tonight," Christine said in a quiet voice.

Erik looked back at Christine and reveled at how young she looked sitting in the passenger's seat with the soft moonlight accentuating her brilliantly brown, innocent eyes. He sighed softly.

"I thought we'd been through this before."

"Yeah, I know! But I asked her way before I confronted you in the hospital. I didn't think that you'd say…no. Well, you can leave if you want to. I'm sure I'll be fine all by myself."

Erik knew that she was playing the reverse psychology card and it was working its magic into his worrisome heart. There _was_ good reason for him to stay for the night: he wanted to make sure that Christine was okay. He kept telling himself that this was the reason why he wanted to stay.

"Be serious, Christine." Erik sighed in defeat as Christine looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Okay fine, I'll stay for the night. But just tonight. Okay? After tonight, you better call Meg to come over."

Christine smiled triumphantly. "Mmh, you say that now." With that, she unbuckled herself and stepped out of the car, on her way to the backside to retrieve her suitcases. Erik followed suit and popped the trunk. He carried the heavy baggage and Christine slung her backpack over her shoulder. Hand-in-hand, they hurried into the apartment building as the nightly temperature began to decrease. They were greeted by a rush of warm air when they got inside then they made their way to the elevator where Christine pushed the button that led to the fifth floor. The elevator doors close.

"No funny business, you hear?." Erik retorted.

"None at all." Christine replied with a devilish smile and Erik panicked about what tricks she might have up her sleeve. Just then, she pressed herself up against Erik's right side and placed a light kiss on a particular spot on Erik's throat that caused a barely audible grumble to sound out of his chest. He couldn't help himself for his primal reactions but suddenly his jeans began to tighten as Christine grazed the very tip of her tongue along the erogenous zone of his neck. He nearly dropped the heavy duffle bag that he was carrying in the urge of pushing Christine against the elevator wall and taking her then.

Luckily for him, the elevator rumbled to a stop and Christine pulled away to resume her inconspicuous position near the wall as the doors opened. He still had a _big_ problem though. Standing in front of him was an elderly woman whose eyes widened beyond her thick glasses as she stared openly at his mask and—his big problem. Erik chuckled uneasily and covered his jeans with the duffle bag.

"Good evening, Mrs. Robertson." Christine said with an easy smile. She made her way through the threshold of the elevator and looked at Erik expectantly.

"Well, aren't you coming along, Erik?"

"Uh, good evening, Mrs. Robertson. Excuse me." The old lady was standing in his way so he dragged his back along the wall so that he wouldn't have to touch Mrs. Robertson with—anything. Then he followed Christine to her door, afraid to look back at the woman who might've had a heart attack in the elevator for all he knew.

"Christine, you could've given that poor woman a heart attack! What's gotten into you?" Erik whispered vehemently at Christine as she worked to unlock her apartment door. She didn't say anything but opened the door instead and stepped inside, disappearing in the darkness. Erik followed her and closed the door while dropping the duffle bag near the door. Christine still hadn't switched the lights on so Erik squinted helplessly and raised his hands up in the efforts of finding his way around the apartment.

"Christine? What are you up to? Where are you?" Erik called out in the darkness, stumbling over a coffee table in the process of walking around blindly.

"Ouch," Erik said under his breath while massaging his right shin.

A pair of soft hands grasped Erik's rough ones and he felt her lips caress his fingertips.

"Hey," She whispered. Apparently she can see in the dark, Erik thought.

"Chris—,"

"Shhh. Come with me." Christine wrapped her hand around Erik's and led him into a hallway that had led to her bedroom. There, she'd switched on a small tungsten lamp on the side table of the bed that gave off a warm yellow light. When Erik's eyes adjusted, he surveyed the room. There was a wide window covered with purple blinds on the far wall in front of him. A medium sized bed occupied most of the space and beside the window was a wardrobe. There was a door on the right that Erik perceived led to a bathroom.

Christine was removing her shoes when Erik moved to the center of the room, watching her every move, making sure that she didn't pounce on him. She was acting too unpredictably for her own good. He began to relax until his jeans that had already loosened began to tighten again as Christine did the unthinkable.

She turned to face him with her brown eyes dead-set on his. Her lips were slightly parted and moist as she began to remove her blouse. She tossed it to the side and Erik gulped as he couldn't resist ogling over her perfect body. Her light green bra cupped her breasts perfectly. They weren't small but weren't too big either, just right for a handful. Her form was lithe and her abdomen was flat probably because of her stay at the hospital but either way, Erik nearly groaned as his eyes floated downwards to her jeans which she was beginning to unbutton.

He couldn't find the strength to move. Today had been a long day; how had things happen so fast? Erik thought. He was paralyzed to the edge of the bed—how had he gotten there?—as Christine slowly pulled her jeans down to reveal long, pale-white legs. Her underwear matched her bra and hugged her low hips. She pushed her jeans aside too and finally looked up at Erik who was still fully clothed. She bit her lip as she held Erik's shoulders and pushed away his jacket. Then Erik finally found his voice.

"Christine, stop. Wh-what are you doing?" Erik rasped out, his lips so near to Christine's.

"Please. Let me do this for you." Christine whispered back as she gently nudged Erik to sit down on the bed. She swiftly removed his leather jacket as she kissed his forehead. Her hair cascaded down and framed Erik's face. He breathed in her hair and to his surprise, his jeans tightened even more. Suddenly, the pressure was just too much. His eyes shot open and he wrapped his arm around Christine's waist. He flipped her over on the bed and kissed her passionately. She moaned as he was finally giving in to what she wanted but then, as she wrapped her legs around his thighs, he broke away and gasped.

"Wait! We can't do this! Christine, I told you. This isn't safe for you. Please, don't force me; I don't want to hurt you." Erik began to pull away but Christine gripped the front of his polo.

"No, Christine. We can't do this now. Can't you understand?" Erik pleaded with his eyes as he stared down who he thought was the most beautiful woman in the world. His heart almost exploded as he heard Christine say her next few words both with her voice and body.

"Erik, I want you to make love to me."

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sorry but i really had to cut it short! i'm sorry but i really couldn't resist a bomb cliffhanger =D don't hunt me down and shoot me because i KNOW this is worthy of a review. i didn't want to jump right into the goods because it can't be something that just happens. we got to ease into it ok? =) please hit that green button! please! =) hope you liked this chapter =)


	15. Chapter 15

hi there! hey, can you all help me in raising the review count to 100? its just ten more reviews, people! we can do this! majority of this chapter is split between Christine and Erik but i DO have a treat for you all =) my word count is increasing but i hope you can forgive me if it suddenly drops down to like 2.5k which might not happen anyway anyway yes. basically, i need your help in raising that review count to a three digit number! oh btw, I sort of imagined Christine's professor to look like Steve Zahn. so that might help you in visualizing =)

surprised that this is still a T-rated story? yeah, me too.

disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...

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"_Erik, I want you to make love to me." _

The words rung in Erik's mind a million time before he was able to formulate an articulate response. He was thinking that he would faint with the loss of good blood circulation as it was all directed in his nether regions. Christine's eyes pressed him for an answer so Erik had to think fast. _Christine, please forgive me._ Erik closed his eyes and pulled away, afraid to see the hurt in her eyes as he did so. He managed to extricate himself from Christine's long legs and sit on the edge of the bed without stretching his jeans too much.

Erik felt the bed move a little and he sensed Christine sitting up silently. He wished that it would have been easier: if only he was a normal guy, and if only she was a normal girl. But they weren't, and that made their life together that much more complicated. The truth was that he was scared to hurt her physically. To think that she wanted this intimacy so soon after her whole ordeal!

"What is it about be that you don't like?" Christine managed to voice out, breaking Erik from his reverie.

"It isn't you," Erik replied softly, not looking at her.

"Of course it's me! Tell me what's wrong!"

"You're only going to get hurt, Christine. How do you think you will be able to—_enjoy_ this activity so soon after your operation? You're still healing, Christine!" Erik cast a sideward glance at Christine. He was getting all worked up again.

"God that's all you ever do, isn't it?" Christine was exasperated. She stood up from the bed and gathered her clothes that she'd tossed around the room.

"Do what?" Erik looked up at her, watching her hide herself while collecting articles of clothing. _She is so beautiful even when she's mad_.

"Doubt me!" Christine straightened up and faced Erik with burning eyes. "All you ever do is doubt me. That's all everyone ever does is doubt me! I can take it from my parents, I can take it from Meg, but I cannot take it from you!" She threw whatever she had in her hands at Erik and stomped into the bathroom, shutting the door.

Erik sat stunned, trying to digest what she'd said. It was all true, too. He loved her, but he didn't think that she would be able to do anything on her own, without Meg, without him. To Erik, Christine was a fragile, young girl who had a heart condition and who needed somebody to depend on. What he didn't realize before was that this was Christine who was a strong woman and who used all her strength to show how independent she could be. This quality, Erik thought, was the reason why he fell in love with her in the first place. Her tenacity, her stubbornness, her intelligence as well. Erik loved all of it.

After what seemed like a year, Erik heard the shower running in the bathroom and he took it as his cue to leave. He debated whether he should let her know or whether he should make a quiet exit. He decided for the latter. After retrieving his jacket from the floor, he padded out of the bedroom and guided himself out of the hallway by tracing the walls with his fingers. Soon, his fingers reached a counter and there he placed the keys to the Vios. They were fighting but he wanted to be the gentleman and keep his word on giving the car. He hoped that she would see the keys on the counter.

Erik remembered the front door to be a few feet away from the hallway and so he walked towards it, made his way out of the apartment and walked into the cold night on his way home.

-oOo-

_Good, good morning! It's 7:04 in the AM and that time check was brought to you by the Mattress King. Weather forecast today is sunny and—_

Christine slammed her palm on the head of the clock radio and vaguely wondered why she ever used that radio to wake her up anyway. She ran a hand through her hair and slowly untangled herself from her bed sheets. While walking towards the big window, she stretched her limbs out and yawned. She pulled the lever for the blinds and those opened to the bright sunlight that immediately filled the room with a warm, morning glow. Contemplating on calling Meg, Christine paced in front of the window whilst tracing a finger over the operation scar on her chest. It ran diagonally from the top of her left breast to the bottom of her right one. Though still pinkish and embossed, Christine felt no pain. In fact, she didn't feel anything at all.

It was ten past eight when Christine left her apartment for school. She debated whether or not she should use the Vios but she was still too angry to want to think about him that day. That was the exact problem though. Christine took the bus to school and put on a brave face as she ventured onto the school grounds, entering her first class of the day.

-oOo-

Erik couldn't find any comfort waking up on his large bed because he kept imagining waking up on hers. He pictured them with their legs intertwined beneath the covers, Christine's head resting upon his shoulder, his hands near places that were intimately out of bounds. They'd wake up at the same time and then succumb to the passion of their love once more before they both got up to start the day. _That_ was how his day was supposed to begin. He couldn't decide whether or not he made the right move for the both of them. For one thing, it was much too soon for Christine to be engaging in strenuous activities such as having sex. Who knows how much more damaged her internal system could become if he allowed himself such pleasure with her? On the other hand, they both felt so ready. It was as if they'd known each other for years instead of months. The pressure between them was much too palpable for their own good and any minute, the dam would burst and all would be lost in love and lust. They just had to be patient, that's all.

Tired of thinking so much while the day was still very young, Erik rubbed his eyes, retrieved his mask from the bedside table and headed towards the bathroom for a quick, cold shower. Afterwards, he shaved his chin, put on a regular set of clothes—a button down shirt and dark pants, grabbed his keys and set out of his apartment for work.

-oOo-

"Now I want you all to continue reading pages forty-five through sixty and will you please submit that essay I told you all to write? Go on, get out before I make you all do more stuff," instructed the professor as the bell rung. He gathered the papers on his desk and drained his coffee mug in the faucet. Professor Leiber was Christine's most eccentric professor but her most favorite one too. He never wore clothes to match and he always wore a button pin on his shirt that said, "Left handers are the only ones in their right minds." He taught Art Appreciation which Christine breezed through but was now suffering in after being absent for so long.

Christine got up from her seat in the third row and climbed down the stairs towards the podium. She needed to speak with Professor Leiber about her extra credit and audit classes. It was only her third class of the day and already she felt like she could give up on the mountain of assignments her professors gave her.

"Professor Leiber?" Christine greeted him after all the other students had filed out of the classroom. Without the bubbling noise of chatter, the classroom seemed like an abandoned museum, lonesome yet intriguing because of the paintings on the walls and ceilings and the sculptures lining the back wall.

"Yeah? Oh Christine! How nice of you to join us again!" Exclaimed the professor as he glanced at her through his glasses as if he hadn't seen her in years. Christine was puzzled over this because he had called on her a couple times during the lecture.

"Uhm, yeah it's nice to be back. Hey, do you think you can help me out with something?"

"Always a pleasure to help out one of my favorite students but to what do I owe this pleasure, mademoiselle?" Professor Leiber sat on his desk rather than his chair and scrutinized Christine carefully.

"I just got back from the hospital you see, and I know that I won't be able to keep up anymore if I don't enroll in audit classes. I just want to hear your opinion on me attending your night classes, sir." In truth, Christine hadn't wanted to join night classes but she had asked each of her professors if she could. None of them had given her the go signal on that but she didn't stop trying.

"Well actually, you've arrived just on time! I specifically remember you to have attended advanced classes for my subject, yeah? So that brought your quota right about here," he brought a hand level with his eye brow, "back then, everyone was around this level," he took his other hand and placed it across his chest. "Now that you're back, the subject matter that we're tackling now, the Renaissance—my favorite, is right up to where you stopped! So I don't think that you'll need any more classes, Christine. C'mon, aren't you sick of me already?"

They both chuckled and Christine breathed a sigh of relief. That was one class down.

"Tell you what though, because you work so hard in my class, I'll have you recommended to other professors for their audit classes. They'll probably love having at least _one_ student paying attention. How's that sound?" Professor Leiber smiled.

"That's be really great, sir. Thanks so much," Christine said as she began walking out of the classroom.

"Oh, but I'll still need you to finish that essay, I'm afraid."

"No problem."

A couple hours later, Christine met up with Meg at the track and field court. They hugged warmly and sat down on the bleachers. Raoul was having practice and the girls didn't have class anymore.

"C! I missed you last night. And I was actually really worried for you. How was class?" Meg started talking the moment they sat down and she had that animated smile on her face that meant that she was in the mood for major talking.

"Oh God, my professors are out to kill me! I'm way behind on my course syllabus. If I slack off, it'll take me two months to catch up to the rest of my block mates."

"Uh, hello? I spoke with one of your professors and she said that you can complete the acceleration program they made in less than a month! Knowing you, C, you'll finish it in two weeks! Unless _Erik_ goes on and _distracts _you." Meg smiled teasingly and Christine could only smile back weakly but she quickly changed the subject.

"So how was last night? Don't give me the details because I know you will. But like, give me a general overview."

"In a word, magnificent! Seriously, Christine, I think that he's the one. He makes me feel so special, so alive!" Though Christine was genuinely happy for her best friend, she couldn't help but think about how happy _she_ could be had her rendezvous with Erik turned out to be the way she wanted it to be.

"Christine, what's up with you? You've been so quiet. D-Did something go wrong last night?" Euphoria quickly turned into deep worry as Meg surveyed Christine's face.

"Uhm, it didn't go as planned."

"You mean you didn't—,"

"Have sex? No." Christine softly interjected. Embarrassment was quickly bubbling up again.

"Well, what happened?" Meg asked after waving hello to Raoul who jogged right in front of them.

"It's just that, well, I guess I pushed him too much. Did you know that he gave me a car? A _car_, Meg. And I couldn't even give him the pleasure that he deserved. God, I feel so stupid. He'll never want me."

"C, don't talk like that. If I knew Erik, which I sort of do, I'll be that he's only looking out for you. He doesn't want to hurt you. Have you talked to him at all today?"

"No." Christine whispered and all the tears that she was fighting since the night before came gushing out of her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, C." Meg moved closer to her and put an arm around Christine's shoulders.

Later, Meg and Raoul dropped Christine off at the apartment. On the way there, Meg joked about how she was going to move out of there soon; Christine could easily see through the thin fabric of humor. She might as well prepare for it now.

"Sweet ride. Is that car yours, Christine?" Raoul asked as they parked near the Vios that was still waiting on the curb.

"Unfortunately." Christine replied as she got out of the backseat. Car rides with Meg and her boyfriend made Christine feel extremely like a third wheel and that only served to dampened her already bad mood.

"Unfortunately? That's a great car!"

"Raoul, that's a girl's car." Meg accused Raoul.

"Oh, really? Anyway, see you around, C." Raoul looked sheepishly at Meg then bade goodbye at Christine.

Meg rolled her eyes then looked out the passenger's window. "I'll call you later, C. Love you."

Christine nodded and trudged up the pavement that led to the reception hall of the apartment. By reception hall, it's meant as an almost hollow entry way with a front desk that never seemed to be manned. The floor was thickly carpeted and always clean. On the right wall hung a bulletin board usually filled with advertisements and eviction notices. Thanks to the money that her parents wired her every month, Christine would never have to receive a "get the hell out" notice from the landlord.

Feeling sorry for herself, Christine chose to go up to her apartment through the stairwell. The long upward tunnel was always cold and noisy because of the air conditioning units but that's what she liked about it. Soon, she unlocked the door to her apartment and walked to her bedroom.

It was six thirty in the evening but Christine was too tired to cook food for herself so she ended up ordering takeout from the nearby Chinese fast food restaurant. After hanging up the phone to a loud conversation with the barely understandable Chinese lady, Christine shrugged out of her clothes and took a bath. Twenty minutes later, Christine was sitting on the kitchen counter wearing dark blue cardigan shorts, a white tank top and a thin, long-sleeved cardigan jacket. Her wavy hair was pulled up into a loose bun atop her head and her glasses which she rarely wore were sitting on the bridge of her nose as she peered down onto her laptop. It was raining outside and the steady rhythm of the falling raindrops was music to Christine's ears as she began to write her essays.

Ten minutes had passed and there was a knock at the door. Christine wasn't expecting the food to arrive for another twenty minutes but she got up and padded to the door anyway.

"Maybe Mrs. Chung finally realized how long an hour really is," Christine thought to herself as she imagined the owner of the restaurant slowly cooking her dimsum. She had no sense of time but the food she made was great. Christine tiptoed and peered into the looking hole and quietly gasped to see a tall man and a flash of white. She stepped down and leaned against the door, thinking if she should let him in. Thinking that her day couldn't get any worse, she opened the door.

-oOo-

After work that day, Erik drove around the city thinking of what to do next. He was weighing the pros and cons of going over to Christine's apartment in his head as he drove. She could forgive him and they could go back normal. She could _not_ forgive him and force him to beg for forgiveness. Erik never thought of Christine to be the begrudging type but then again, she never really was totally mad at him before. When the rain started to pour after the sun had hidden itself in the horizon, Erik knew he had to think fast if he wanted to get a good night's worth of sleep.

"What am I doing?" He thought to himself as he realized that he was only procrastinating going over to Christine's place. Subconsciously, he knew that he was going to visit her but he just stalled time thinking that she wouldn't accept him. Pushing the speed limit, he sped towards her apartment, vaguely remembering to get her a rose as a token of his love for her. After buying her a single red rose, he made his way to her apartment.

By now the rain was pouring hard and Erik didn't have a spare umbrella with him. He resigned to running into the rain, using his jacket to shield the rose from getting drenched like him. Hurriedly, he climbed the stairs to her floor and breathed in twice before knocking on the door. He wasn't expecting her to open the door but when she did, a wave of relief and awe rushed through Erik's shivering body. They hadn't seen or contacted each other for a day so when Christine opened the door, it was like a safe blanket of security wrapped up Erik's heart warmly. He had almost forgotten how indescribably breathtaking she was even in her home clothes with her hair tied up messily and glasses he'd never seen before shrouding her beautiful brown eyes.

After taking in the sight of his beloved, he remembered why he came. Wordlessly, he thrust the rose in front of her and she looked down upon it, probably thinking if she should receive it or not. Instead, she looked up at him with an unreadable expression.

"What are you doing here?" Christine asked softly. Her voice filled up Erik's ears and he realized how much he had missed her that day.

"I-I came to apologize," Erik was really shivering now and he was praying that she would let him in. After staring at each other for a long while, Christine sighed and stepped out of the way to let him in. He graciously stepped into the warmth of her apartment. He was still holding the rose and he offered it to Christine again who finally took it this time. She was fiddling with the petals and roaming her fingers about the black ribbon that was tied to it. _I'm not the only one who's nervous here_, Erik thought.

"I'm not an idiot," Christine spoke up, startling Erik with her statement.

"Wh-wha—," Erik was still trembling as his heavy and wet clothes hugged closely to his body.

"I wouldn't have asked you what I did if I wasn't sure that I would be able to—_handle it_," Erik remained silent, suppressing the growing shivers that were racking through his body.

"I just—I thought that it was time to be together," Christine started pacing around in front of him and Erik couldn't resist raking his eyes over her barely covered legs. Her tank top rode up slightly to reveal her jutting hips. It was a sight to behold but Erik mentally kicked himself for not paying his undivided attention and for not remembering to feed her every four hours.

"Ch-Christine," Erik meant to apologize and tell her that it was his fault but his chattering teeth couldn't keep still long enough to get two words out. Christine had her arms crossed over her chest and when she finally looked at Erik again, her arms shot open in shock.

"Oh Jesus, wait, sorry let me get you a towel."

After Erik had warmed up and the food finally came, they sat down at the kitchen table. Erik was wrapped up in a fluffy, pink towel and watched Christine pick her way through her food with her pair of chopsticks. She offered him some noodles but he declined. She looked at him once and suppressed a smile by smothering her face with a squid ball.

"What's so funny?" Erik was bemused.

"Nothing." Christine swallowed and held a straight face

"No, really, what?"

"It's just well, you—in that towel," Christine couldn't contain her laughter any longer.

"Oh well, why don't I just take it off then?" Erik unwrapped himself from the towel and folded it neatly before laying it on the table. He was wearing nothing else except for his boxers and pants that were still heavy with rain water and so they hung lowly on his hips. Christine stopped laughing and cleared her throat as she was finally able to see what was under his shirt. She didn't expect to see what she saw which was a toned chest and abdomen. They weren't perfect washboard abs but he obviously took care of himself. Erik settled down again on his chair and looked at Christine squarely.

"I'm sorry,"

"You're forgiven,"

"Yeah, but I really think that it was my fault," Christine put her chopsticks down and looked guiltily at the boxes of Chinese takeout in front of her.

"What? Hey, no it wasn't." Erik stood up from his seat and knelt beside Christine's. "I guess I should've broken it to you gently."

"Yeah. And I overreacted."

"Yeah." They both smiled at each other and wondered why they were ever mad at each other in the first place. Erik gently caressed Christine's cheek and removed her glasses, setting it on the table. Christine leaned down to him and he leaned upwards. Their noses touched and Christine closed her eyes, parting her lips slightly. Just then, the washing machine grumbled to a stop, startling them both.

Christine groaned then excused herself to retrieve his clothes. Erik stood up as well. He had come over to ask for her forgiveness and he got it. It was time to go. A minute passed and Christine came back with a handful of his clothes.

"I have your stuff."

"Yeah thanks," Erik said while putting his clothes on. Christine looked puzzled.

"Don't you want to dry the rest of your clothes?"

"No, I think that I should be heading back actually. I can see that you're busy." Erik didn't want to spend the night and have to deal with a lot of expectations.

"Are you crazy? There's a storm coming in and well, I don't want you driving out there while it's not safe." Christine stepped closer to him. "You can stay here." Erik looked up at her then.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to do anything to you. You're right. I _do_ have a lot of things to take care of. You can bunk out here in the living room." Christine rummaged through the linen cabinet and retrieved a pillow and a blanket. She tossed those items onto the couch and bent over it to unfold the bed. Erik gulped as she did so.

"Okay you can sleep on this. I'd let you sleep in Meg's room but she wouldn't." Christine grinned and then retreated into the kitchen.

"Good night, Christine." Erik called out before unbuckling his pants. Christine tried not to stare. As she resumed her position on the kitchen counter, forcing herself to focus on the essays she had to finish.

Two hours later, the rain was still pouring if not harder. Erik hadn't actually gone to sleep but just lay on the couch with his eyes closed. He sensed Christine to be wrapping up her studying cocoon then shutting the kitchen light on, leaving the hallway light open. She walked over to the couch and stared at Erik for a long time. She was close enough for him to smell her familiar scent of vanilla and soft powder. His heart sped up as he felt pressure on his mask. She was touching him and he was afraid that she was going to remove his mask. But to his relief, she pulled away and padded silently into her room.

The rain kept pouring and served as a solemn lullaby for the both of them and together they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

ok seriously, that was good right? and DON'T worry. you know how i hate cliffies too but i shall grant you a BOMB 16th chapter. just trust me. pls, PLS press that green button! =) i love you all. and thanks for following this story. =)


	16. Chapter 16

ei y'all. we didn't reach the 100 review marker in time like i had envisioned but how could i neglect my loyal readers? =) i've got a pivotal chapter for you. yes, the cause of the rating change. i'm maturing and this story is maturing and you are all watching the progress. thanks for sticking with me thru all the late, late, late, updates.

just so you know, i've never written anything as vivid as this lime. yes. sorry, no lemon yet but we're building up to that point remember?

_disclaim, disclaim, disclaim_...

* * *

Erik tossed and turned on that uncomfortable couch, tangling his body in the bed sheet that Christine lent him. What made his insomnia worse was the rain that was pouring much, much harder than it did earlier that night yet Erik could not blame the scratchy couch or the heavy rain for his restlessness. It was the fact that no more than twenty feet away the love of his life was lying down in bed snuggled into a thick comforter, eyes closed, and wavy hair spread out across her pillow. He imagined her hugging a pillow tightly and wished that it was his body that she was gripping onto. As Erik settled into a panoramic view of Christine in his mind, a thunderclap rang out sharply, startling him.

He couldn't take any more of this anxiety so he rose from the couch and walked over to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. The cold tiles beneath his feet caused goosebumps to rise all over his arms and he rubbed them profusely. As he leaned against the kitchen counter, he replayed the events of the night before for the enth time. She truly had wanted him to make love to her but his adamancy was a thick wall that separated him from something that he had been yearning to do the moment she walked into his pro-shop lifetimes ago. And that wall was slowly crumbling as his mind unraveled a plan.

The microwave oven clock blinked with the numbers 3:21. _If I'm going to push through with my plan I'd better get a move on,_ Erik thought as he tapped his lips with his finger. When the clock read 3:25, Erik finally rinsed the glass he used and set it on the counter near the sink. He'd already memorized the layout of Christine's apartment so walking around in pitch black darkness wasn't a problem for him. To his delight, Christine's bedroom door was slightly ajar. Feeling like a criminal, Erik crept in and stood at the foot of the bed, drinking in the sight before him. Christine's sleeping frame matched the images Erik procured in his mind though she wasn't hugging a pillow. Instead, she was lying on her back with her right arm raised above her head and her legs slightly twisted under the comforter. Her lips were parted slightly and a dreamy smile tugged on the edge of her mouth. Erik vaguely wondered if she was dreaming of him at that moment.

Ever so slowly, Erik placed his hands beside Christine's feet and began crawling onto the bed. He never removed his gaze on Christine's beautiful face in fear that her eyes would snap open and accidentally kick him in the wrong place. He was thankful for the heavy rain that muted the creaky bed. With each stretch of his strong limbs, his face inched closer and closer to Christine's and when he was finally eye level with her, Christine's eyes slowly opened. Erik's throat constricted as his mind went blank. With Christine's beautiful, brown eyes watery from sleep, Erik's plan quickly faded from his brain. Even if she was thick with sleep, Christine still had the innocent power of unhinging Erik from his threshold of control.

"Hey," Erik weakly whispered.

Puzzled, Christine opened her lips even more, attempting to speak but Erik thought quickly and immediately closed the space between their lips. Christine's mouth molded onto Erik's until she began to respond by kissing back and opening her mouth more for Erik. He kissed her lips a couple more times before gently darting his tongue into Christine's expecting mouth. She massaged his tongue with hers and a deep rumble reverberated in Erik's chest causing Christine to shiver and shift under his body.

Erik broke the kiss to allow them some time to breathe but he didn't stop worshiping her body. After swiftly pushing the blanket from her legs, revealing tight boy shorts, Erik trailed light kisses along her neck making Christine squirm. Then the rest of Christine's body began to respond: her arms wound around his shoulders and her legs spread nestling the lower half of Erik's body between them. Instinctively, Erik's hips ground into hers eliciting Christine's first moan of the night. Her hands found their way into his hair as Erik began to sensually lick her left earlobe. Christine bit her bottom lip and whimpered in ecstasy.

Somehow, Christine wanted to give pleasure to Erik as well and so she decided to send her hand down between them and shyly gripped his amply manhood through his already tented boxers. Erik's head shot up from its current location on Christine's chest and he hissed in elation, closing his eyes from the pleasure. Christine memorized every crease on Erik's face as she began to lightly trace his length with her fingertips.

"Aahh," Erik shuddered against Christine and closed his eyes tightly. Christine craned her neck to place wet, open-mouth kisses on the side of Erik's neck that was taut with his self-restraint. She suddenly became afraid that Erik would pull away again and to her disappointment, he gripped her hand that was stroking his member and brought it up to his mouth to kiss. Then he looked into Christine's sad eyes with his intense stare and Christine realized there was something more.

"Tonight's about you, Christine," he whispered against her lips before placing a wet kiss against them, capturing a moan.

Christine's heart began pounding against her chest and she couldn't believe that this was finally happening. She didn't know how far Erik would let them go but she embraced every minute of having the man that she deeply loved moving above her and kissing every inch of her body…

Her breath caught in her throat as Erik slowly began to slide her tank top up her body and his eyes silently begged for permission.

"Uhm," Christine rose to a sitting position and pulled her tank top off herself. Erik was across from her and after she threw her top to the side, she shook her hair out and almost giggled at Erik's expression. His mouth was agape and his eyes were open wide like a little boy's at Christmas. He was staring right into her chest and Christine smirked, holding Erik's chin and kissing him. Christine readjusted their positions so that she was lying down again and Erik was on top of her again.

"You trust me, don't you?" Erik asked as he began to trace the outline of her right breast right up to the rosy bud in the center.

"Mmmh," Erik didn't wait for her reply as he latched his mouth onto her chest. "Ungh—y-yeah, yes…I trust you." Christine couldn't form a coherent thought after she felt his tongue circling her nipple. Intense heat began to spread in her lower abdomen and her arousal filled Erik's nostrils which sent more blood to his groin. He didn't know how much more of this he could take; his senses were on overdrive but for her, he would do anything.

Christine brought Erik's head back to hers and gave him a passionate kiss. Sweat was forming a thin layer on both of their skins and their arms and legs rubbed together, creating sensual friction. Erik kissed down her throat and licked Christine's collarbone. She was breathing heavily by the time he began tracing the tip of his tongue along Christine's operation scar. He moved lower on her body, kissing the skin on Christine's abdomen. Then he reached her hips, hooking his fingers into the band of her underwear. He didn't need to look up to ask if he could proceed.

Nervous, Christine shut her eyes tightly as she felt the material of her panties slide down her legs and off her feet. She didn't realize that she was holding her breath until she heard Erik whisper from her legs.

"Hey, breathe." Christine exhaled but sucked in another tight breath as Erik licked up her whole slit, gathering the wetness that pooled there. She moaned almost louder than the pouring rain outside when Erik paid special attention to the top of her sex, sucking it in and rolling it around with his tongue. Something was happening inside of Christine's body; it was as if a coil was warping her organs and winding them tightly around her sex, waiting for something more to happen. Erik felt the new tension in Christine's body as her legs hugged Erik to the apex of her thighs and he was scared that his mask would come off. Her whimpers and moans grew closer and louder and he knew she was close.

Christine had never experience anything like this before and she was scared of the sensations that Erik skillfully evoked from her. Nonetheless, he continued to lap his tongue against her clit, alternately sucking and nipping.

"Erik, p-please," She didn't even know what she was begging for but she needed a release for all the pleasure she was feeling. Her skin began to tingle and she brought her hands to her sides, gripping as much of the bed sheet as possible. She wouldn't stop squirming so Erik placed his palm against her abdomen, holding her in place as he brought her to the final peak of pleasure.

Her eyes shot open and her mouth formed a perfect 'o' as she came loudly. Erik kept his mouth attached to her clit prolonging her first orgasm for as long as possible. Christine felt as if she exploded into a million pieces but Erik was keeping her on the bed with him. No sound came out of her mouth; her silence punctuated the utter ecstasy that she was experiencing at that moment. Erik removed his mouth from her body to allow Christine time to recover.

Making love to her wasn't part of his master plan but bringing her immense pleasure was. Erik still wasn't confident that she was fully ready to take him but he couldn't stop himself from letting Christine experience just a tiny bit of the wonders of having sex. She was still sensitive to his touch, jerking slightly as the aftershocks of orgasm rode through her body. He crawled up her body and kissed her lips then her forehead that was slick with her sweat. She was whimpering quietly when suddenly, Erik stuck two fingers into her pussy immediately caressing the slightly rough patch of skin that was most sensitive to a woman.

Christine gripped Erik's shoulders tightly and arched her back away from him causing her breasts to rub against his chest. She let out a high-pitched scream before slumping onto the bed with her face buried into the crook of Erik's neck. Erik removed his fingers from her body and brought them up to his mouth, sucking them dry. Christine watched him do this through heavy-lidded eyes and raised her head to kiss Erik lightly on the lips, tasting herself.

The rain slowed down to a steady drizzle until it finally stopped. Erik had lain beside Christine until she drifted off into sleep, completely content. Erik, however, still had a rather big problem that throbbed almost painfully. Being able to share this experience with Christine was already magical but he could not wait until she was able to fully reciprocate the pleasure. He had to take it step by step knowing that although Christine mirrored his intense lust, she generally had no idea what to do with it except being guided by her innate senses.

Deciding on taking issues into his own _hands_, Erik carefully got up from the bed, tucked Christine's naked body back into the comforter, and less than five minutes in the shower. His member was already overly stimulated so cumming wasn't difficult to achieve. After cleaning himself up, he stole one last glance at Christine who seemed to glow in happiness before retiring on the couch, letting the dream-Christine take him to Heaven.

-oOo-

Christine woke up a little bit earlier than her alarm and she waited until it tuned into a random FM station. She turned it off and rolled to her side, trying to decide whether the images of Erik's head in between her legs were real or not. She shifted her legs a little bit and still felt traces of the sticky wetness that pooled between them. Christine had wicked thoughts of skipping school that day just so she could spend time with Erik but she realized that she had already missed enough and that she had a lot of papers to turn in. Sighing, Christine got up from her bed thinking that the earlier she began her day, the sooner she would get to be with Erik.

Finding her underwear and tank top on the floor, Christine was unashamed of walking around her room naked knowing that Erik had already seen everything. She did blush though at the realization that a man had seen and touched her naked body. Christine walked out of her bedroom to peek outside, wondering if Erik was still there on the couch. Indeed, his body was sprawled on the sofa with the blanket tangled about his legs. She felt a wave of lust almost overcome her and she ran into the bathroom, resorting to a cold shower to get her head straight.

Ten minutes later, Christine was dressed and was silently preparing her breakfast in the kitchen. She planned on eating something quick like cereal that morning so she opened the overhead cabinet in search of a bowl. Meg was a lot taller than Christine so reaching for the bowl wouldn't have been a problem to her but Christine exasperatingly tiptoed and tried her best to reach the ceramic bowl. Suddenly, a much longer hand extended towards the cabinet and retrieved it.

"You're awake," Christine turned around and faced a bed-headed Erik whose tousled hair only heightened his sexual appeal that morning. She gave his a chaste kiss on the lips but Erik wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a deeper kiss. Knowing that she won't be able to stop if they continued any further, she reluctantly broke the kiss and smiled.

"Good morning." Erik said with his husky, morning voice.

"I've got to get to class," Christine replied apologetically.

"As much as I would like to ravage you this morning, yes, you do need to attend your classes today. Were you going for cereal this morning?"

"Yeah. Thanks for getting the bowl."

"No problem."

Christine hesitated, busying herself with pouring the milk and honey oats cereal into the bowl. "And thanks for…last night." She blushed fiercely.

"Most people would reply 'it was nothing' but it was everything. Well, _almost_ everything, anyway." Erik added, knowing for a fact that what she experienced was barely half of the whole deal.

"It was incredible."

They stared at each other for a long time before Erik cleared his throat signaling Christine to hurry up with her breakfast.

While Christine gobbled up her cereal, Erik nosed around the laundry room. He retrieved his pants, shirt, and jacket that were still extremely wrinkled but clothes nonetheless. Afterwards, he washed up in the bathroom, carefully removing his mask to clean his face. By the time he was finished, Christine was already on her way to the door with her schoolbag and jacket in hand.

"Leaving without me?"

"I'm sorry I'm just afraid to run really late." Christine whined a little but flashed him an apologetic smile.

"Why run when you can take your brand new car?" Erik was persistent in his quest to get Christine behind the wheel.

She reached for something in her back pocket and jingled the shiny keys to her Vios. "Didn't think that I'd miss out on a perfectly good opportunity, did you?" She asked as Erik walked over to her, enveloping her in his long arms. Christine responded by burying her head into his shoulder, breathing in as much of his scent as possible before she left.

"Swing by Gameworx after your classes, love." Erik whispered into her vanilla scented hair. "Then we'll figure out something from there."

They broke apart and headed out of the apartment, both going into opposite directions. Before they got into their cars though, Christine ran towards Erik, giving him a last-minute kiss. Erik chuckled into her mouth but responded to her kiss fervently.

Then Erik got into his car and drove away. As Christine walked to her car that she was so eager to drive, she couldn't help looking up into the bright sky thanking God for giving her another chance to be with Erik and she was positive that nothing else could go wrong.

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uh huuuuh. some cliffie there huh? the angst will be returning soon, ladies and gentlemen. please review! =)


	17. Chapter 17

Gotta love me for updating after FOUR days. =)we need to get back to the angst now. though there is a lot of fluff to cushion the...blow.

I mention Michael Jackson in this chapter but I don't mean to bash him in anyway. I totally respect the artist and I love his songs though I'm not a huge fan of him.

…but I am a sucker for Yiruma =)

this is the longest chapter i've written so sit tight.

_disclaim, disclaim, disclaim..._

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"…and I would like to leave you and your non-impressionable minds with a quote from Beethoven: _Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life._ Get into touch with your spirit and senses, people. Now get out of my classroom!"

Majority of the students chuckled at their professor as they arranged their belongings and filed out of the room, but Christine was still caught up with the awe-inspiring quote that stimulated certain images in her mind. Throughout the day, Christine had been spacing out, daydreaming about what would happen should last night's events continued. If only she hadn't fallen asleep! It took a student tripping on the stairs and scattering his books all over the floor to break Christine from her steamy reverie.

"Music History too invigorating for you today, Mr. Collins?" The professor jokingly said as he gathered his papers and books from his desk. "Would you mind assisting Mr. Collins in collecting his things from the floor, Ms. Daae?" Then he walked out of the room.

Christine blinked once before she was fully able to comprehend the situation. "Sure."

Robert Collins was a dark-haired boy with squinty eyes and pouty lips. He was always the unusual kind of student but a very brilliant musician as well. Now, his ear were turning red as his crush for years bent down from her desk and helped pick up his music notebooks.

"Thanks, Christine," Robert said nervously.

She smiled at him and handed him his things as she retrieved them. "No problem, Rob. Trust me; you aren't the first to fall flat on your butt on these stairs." She giggled and Robert almost fainted at the beautiful way her body shook with her laughter.

"Yeah, uh, thanks." He replied again. After Christine had helped with the mess, she threw her own things into her shoulder bag and walked across the room to the door. She called out a goodbye before leaving.

"Hey, take it easy there, Rob. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait, Christine! I wanted to ask you something." Robert audibly gulped before continuing.

"S-so, you like operas?"

"Uhm yeah, occasionally. Why do you ask?" Christine had a feeling about where this was leading to and she felt a little sorry for having to turn him down. He was such a sweet guy once he got through his own nerves.

"Well, I got tickets to this thing next week and I was wondering if maybe, well, you would, you know…go out with me?" Robert chastised himself for being the college dork that he was.

Christine leaned against the door and smiled apologetically at the boy who was sweating bullets and looked as if he was just about to faint.

"Rob, you are a really nice guy. Thanks for the offer but I'm afraid I'm seeing someone right now." Even at her own words, electric waves sped through Christine's body and tingled at her fingers and toes.

"Oh, of course. A girl like you _should_ already have someone." Robert bowed his head slowly as Christine said goodbye and walked out of the door, eager to get to her someone.

-oOo-

With some kind of inspiration or motivation spurring Erik to work rigorously in the pro-shop, he was satisfied with his progress of completing the finger-hole sets of eight bowling balls and finishing old paperwork. He was humming along to the baroque orchestration of Bach—something that he wouldn't do under normal circumstances, but for the entire day, Erik actually felt giddy.

He chided himself for being such a girl, anxious and exuberantly vibrant even towards his sour boss. His fellow office mates eyed him curiously but never questioned him once though they were certain that Erik was in love.

As Erik slumped into his reclining chair, he stretched out his limbs and yawned slightly. He divulged himself into a music magazine and a piece of wrinkled music sheet that he had been keeping for a while. It wasn't until Christine cheerfully entered his pro-shop that he hastily shoved the paper back into his pocket.

"Hey!" Christine beamed at him. Her hair was slightly disarranged and she was out of breath as if she'd been running in a marathon. Erik had the notion though that she hurriedly got out of her car and into Gameworx to see him, and that thought made him smile. He rose from his chair and bent down to kiss her lightly on the lips twice.

"Mmmh. I've been thinking about you. How was school?" Erik wrapped his arms around her body, content with where they were and ignoring the people who were looking at them through the wide glass windows.

"School was school but I could hardly concentrate on anything because of you—not that I mind of course," Christine added, knowing that Erik would rebut by saying that her own thoughts are in her own head or something to that point.

"Oh, but someone _did_ ask me out today so that made today pretty eventful." Christine verbalized as she nuzzled her face into Erik's chest. He went rigid for a second, not long enough for her to sense his discomfort but enough to rouse her suspicions.

"That's okay right? Because there's something more important than that."

"Enlighten me," Erik said rather bitterly but Christine could only smile at him.

"Who I'm going out with now." Christine sealed her statement with a kiss that Erik eagerly responded to. They had to break away of course before an audience formed right outside the door.

"So are you hungry? Where do you want to eat?" Erik eased himself out of Christine's arms and walked over to his desk to clean it.

"I was actually thinking that maybe we could just chill at your place tonight. Cook something to eat and watch a movie, yeah?" Though the suggestion was perfectly said with the right amount of innocence, Erik was not one to miss how each word from her mouth was laced with a certain expectation—one that caused him to stop his movements and cast a sideward glance at Christine who was busying herself with rearranging the brochures that were laid out near the window.

"Something else you thought of doing tonight?" Erik mused, hoping and praying that she would say what he wanted her to say, though fear suddenly bubbled in his chest.

"Why, Mr. Destler? Planning on creeping in on me in the middle of the night again?" Christine walked over to Erik and batted her lashes at him, causing him to chuckle at her playfulness.

"Somehow, I'm more afraid of you committing that indiscretion, Ms. Daae." Christine cocked an eyebrow at him. "Nonetheless, I'll bring you to my humble abode, _mon ange_." Erik sighed.

-oOo-

Since Christine had driven over to Gameworx, they decided to convoy their way to Erik's apartment with Christine driving behind Erik. Turns out that he didn't live too far from Gameworx and Christine puzzled over the fact that Erik chose to _drive_ to Gameworx rather than walk to save on gas. As they turned into a narrow street lined with tall oak trees, Christine came to realize that Erik would rather drive _anywhere_ be it near or far to have an excuse to hide his face. A sudden rush of sympathy warmed Christine's heart.

"Oh Erik," Christine breathed out as they finally pulled into the curb. Erik gracefully stepped out of the car, surveying the surroundings for an instant before landing his gaze on Christine. He motioned for her to step out of her car with a wave of his hand and a crooked smile.

The town that they lived in wasn't big or popular but it was bordering the lines of urban-development and this was very much present in the new renovated apartment buildings that Erik was leading Christine into. It was a big, glassy, modern building that was at least five stories high. Christine was suddenly thrilled by the prospect of actually getting to see where Erik spent his nights and days because after all, one can know a person through his or her home.

Erik, on the other hand, was extremely nervous as he led Christine into the elevator. She was holding onto his hand and traced her index finger along his own—something that she frequently did when they joined hands and it always soothed Erik somehow. He reveled in how her small, innocent gestures overwhelmed him and altered his emotional environment. But that didn't stop him from worrying about Christine's reaction when he would let her in his apartment. He had always lived alone so worrying about living up to someone else's standards was never a problem for Erik. He decorated his home the way he wanted to and lived the life of a true bachelor.

Not wanting to show Christine his anxiety, Erik swiftly stuck his key into the knob and turned it. He reached in and switched the 'fog lights' as he liked to call them because they were yellowish and dim, situated at the corners of the rooms. He rarely used the fluorescent lights because his eyes were strained enough under the garish lights of Gameworx. At least here, he could have his own peace.

Already, the sun was nestling itself in the clouds. Right across from where they were standing was a very large glass window that served as the wall, it made the room seem larger and with the sunset hues playing on the furniture, Christine couldn't help but think how _sexy_ his apartment was. As soon as the door had opened, Christine roamed her eyes over every detail of his apartment or at least what she could immediately see. His home was undoubtedly modern and very manly. Most of the furniture was themed into abstract shapes: angular and curved. They were toned in the shades of black, gray, and white.

Naturally, the gadgets would be just as modern and Christine stood agape at the widescreen plasma television that sat near the east wall. On either side of it were racks of DVDs and music CDs that Christine planned to go through later one. What caught Christine's attention the most though was the rug underneath the coffee table that was long and wavy and printed onto it were black and white piano keys.

"I-It isn't much," Erik quietly said from where he was standing. He had his hands clasped behind him and looked back and forth between his living room and Christine.

"Perhaps you'd like to actually step _into_ my apartment now?" Erik chuckled. Christine was still standing on the threshold of the door and she obediently took two steps forward, still in awe over his apartment. He wasn't lying when he said that he was rich but it stuck to Christine even more that he was incredibly humble about it.

"You. Have. An amazing. Apartment."

Erik laughed at the young girl's reaction. He loosened up knowing that his home was receiving positive feedback. "I like to mix and match designs once and a while. You caught me in my minimalistic, abstract, pianist theme."

"You designed all this yourself?" Christine started walking around, eager to see what other beautiful architectural designs translated from Erik's mind.

"In my spare time, yes." Erik followed Christine into the kitchen that was designed just as beautifully. "Sometimes I use the body of different music instruments and pattern it into my furniture. I've had this design for quite some time now but I haven't gotten around to changing it." Erik wanted to add that he'd been busy writing a composition for her but decided against it.

"Don't change it! I _love_ the whole piano design. It suits you well, but wow I had no idea you did interior designing! What, are you an engineer too?"

"Architect would be the more appropriate term, actually. With all this spare time, I'd be bound to try other things, right? And I do remember mentioning to you before that I earned several degrees in college which proved to be of my advantage after all."

Christine _did_ remember that. In fact, she remembered everything he said the moment he began opening up about his past.

"Of course I remember that. Well, then. It seems that I've taken it to my liking to fall in love with a genius." Christine walked over to Erik and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Genius? Hardly. I'm a fool to fall in love with a woman out of my league—hardly even of officially legal age yet!"

Christine swatted him on his chest. "If you haven't noticed, my birthday is coming up. I'll be twenty-one soon enough, mister. By the way, what you planning?" Christine could never escape her own curiosity and she would keep rambling.

"Alright, before we discuss that, why not we talk about what we are having for dinner this evening?"

"Got ingredients for Mexican food?" Christine smirked.

"Christine, I have everything you need."

-oOo-

The next hour was spent in the kitchen. If before it looked like a superior kitchen that could've passed for an open house room, now it looked like a bunch of toddlers raided the place with food bits littering the counters and tiles. Guacamole sauce spilled over the blender, nacho chips and tomato slices messed up the island but neither of them could care for they were utterly enjoying themselves.

Christine set the light mood with famous songs from the 80s that boomed in every single room in the house with the speakers being literally Surround Sound. Erik had a hand towel draped over his shoulder as he swiftly cut bell peppers and other vegetables for a Mexican Nacho Salad. He looked over at Christine who was busying herself with the dips and sauces since that was all Erik allowed her to make.

He had to stop chopping and just stare at Christine who had her back turned to Erik that allowed him a good view of her swaying hips and backside. She was thrashing her head from side to the screams of Michael Jackson. He was singing something to the lines of "I'm Bad…" and Erik couldn't understand why this appealed to Christine at all but she really enjoyed it.

Christine was humming along to the song, occasionally singing the lyrics. Erik was so enthralled by the way that she gracefully moved her body and vaguely wondered if she had been a dancer before. Suddenly she turned around and reached for the salt and caught Erik staring at her before he cleared his throat and began to busy himself with chopping the onions. He prayed that she didn't notice his enflamed cheeks. Christine smiled to herself then washed her hands in the sink after placing the bowls of salsa and guacamole on the cleanest counter.

"You know, my Music History teacher shared a quote with us today." Christine began while walked over to the stereo in the living room.

"Is that so? I trust it to be a beautiful quote from someone as notable as Mozart?" Erik said, reaching for the bag of nacho chips and pouring them into a big bowl.

"No, actually. He quoted Beethoven." Christine called out. Erik heard the sounds of plastic cases clunking together and he realized that she was looking through his CDs. That thought made Erik uneasy as he didn't know what she would expect. The Michael Jackson CD had been a gift.

"Beethoven? That man didn't know music if it screamed into his ear! Mozart was more highly revered than him, in my opinion." Erik finished with the salad and cleaned up his hands, rinsing them in the sink. After that he followed Christine into the living room that was romantically dim with the night sky painting a dark background against the soft fog lights. Christine just stood up and popped something into the CD player before turning around.

"_Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life,"_ Christine said, right before soft, piano music filled the air. "I personally believe this to be one of his most awe-inspiring quotes, don't you think? I know you don't really like Beethoven but it's only his intense passion for music is so evident in his music that pe—,"

Erik laughed quietly before he strode over to Christine, effectively silencing her with his lips.

"To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop." Erik breathed with his lips still connected to Christine's. His arms wrapped themselves around Christine's petite frame and she tiptoed up into his body.

"Mozart." Christine moaned as Erik's roaming hands found their way into her button down shirt. She bit down lightly on Erik's neck causing him to suppress a delightful shudder.

"No," Erik whispered as he licked and nibbled on her earlobe. "The name's Erik."

Christine smiled knowing that she should very well be moaning the name of the man who had his hands in her shirt rather than the musician who is long dead. This, right here, was real and alive.

Then, Erik scooped up Christine's legs and she instinctively locked her feet behind him. Erik had his hands gripping tightly on her derriere so she pressed into his abdomen, swallowing his moan. Without hurting her, Erik slammed her body into the wall, almost toppling the stereo nearby. With Christine propped up against the wall, he began his descent into the valley of her supple breasts and she weaved her fingers into his raven hair. Each lick and kiss from Erik's mouth caused Christine to ground her hips against Erik's which were in a rather elevated situation.

While Erik was sucking on Christine's neck, she thought that she heard him say something against her hot skin.

"What?" Christine managed to say before biting her lip as Erik began to lick at the indention in between her clavicles.

"_River Flows Into You,_" Erik brought his head up to reply then crashed his lips against Christine's kiss-swollen mouth. She realized that he had said the title of the next track that had begun to play. If he hadn't pointed that out, she wouldn't have noticed Yiruma playing a different song. In her opinion, this was a song that embodied the essence of making love. Every note, every crescendo oozed with sexuality and Christine felt herself become wetter.

"Mmh," Erik's thoughts must have mirrored Christine's exactly because he pushed away from the wall with her body in his arms and carried her to what Christine perceived to be his bedroom. Christine wound her arms around Erik's neck and ravaged his mouth with her own. They swiftly passed the kitchen and then Christine remembered about dinner.

"Erik…the f-food…" but neither Erik nor Christine could hardly care about the food that they could consume _after_. Christine was totally thrilled that Erik finally agreed to make love to Christine. She felt so ready for him and even though she knew that it was going to hurt for her first time, she also knew that Erik would do everything in his power to keep her happy. She couldn't wait to be bonded with Erik fully and this act was the only physical way to seal their intense love for each other. They'd been through a lot to get to this point but at long last…

_This is it. Man up, Destler._ Erik pushed through the bedroom door and slowly perched Christine on the edge of his bed. He broke the kiss away only to melt Christine's insides with his smoldering, emerald gaze. There was nothing more beautiful than the woman sitting on his bed whose hair was tousled; lips red and swollen; and glowing amber eyes that were half-lidded. Erik knelt in front of Christine and unbuttoned her skinny jeans. She smiled dreamily and raised her hips to help him remove her jeans. She threw her head back, exposing her long, silky neck and Erik groaned at the sight.

After her jeans were removed, he took his own shirt and jeans off and moved over Christine who had crawled into the center of the large bed.

"Such a large bed, Erik. I don't expect that you use this for anybody else?" Christine cooed against his lips as she began to fully unbutton her shirt. Erik shook his head and licked Christine's lips. In fact, Erik had not bedded any other woman before Christine and his fear of not knowing what to do was bubbling up in his throat but he suppressed that feeling and gave way to his primal need to ravage Christine's body.

The music was still playing in the room and it was beginning to build up into the climax. Christine then threw her shirt away leaving her scantily clad in her lace bra that just happened to match her underwear. Erik had the notion that Christine had planned this night but then again, _he_ had instigated it.

Erik had never thought that his life would finally boil down to this moment with a woman in his arms actually _moaning_ because of his own ministrations. He knew exactly where to apply pressure on her body and what parts made her shudder when he ran his tongue over them. He knew exactly how to kiss her and how to stop just enough to tease her.

"_Erik…"_ Yes, Erik thought. Moan my name.

"Erik. Erik!" He didn't realized that she had stopped moving and started looking at him with an intent expression though she was panting heavily. How a woman can concentrate on anything else during a moment like this, Erik would never know.

"What is it Christine? Too much?" Erik, at the moment, had his two fingers inside of her and he stopped. He prayed that Christine thought it was too much.

"No it's just," Christine sat up causing Erik to pull out. She hugged her knees to her now exposed chest and looked Erik squarely in the eyes. "I love you. You know that right?"

"Of course, I do." He brushed a stray lock of hair from Christine's face.

"And you love me?"

"With all my heart and soul. I'd give you anything."

"So why are you still wearing the mask?" Christine asked with a voice just above a whisper. Erik's throat clenched and he had to swallow.

"It makes me feel like you don't trust me or something when I see you with the mask on. It's just me, Erik. And it's just you. So please…" Christine raised her hands to his face and hooked her fingertips to the outline of the mask. Erik sat rigidly and couldn't bring himself to move.

"Wait…"

"I need to see you, Erik. It's alright, don't be afraid." In fact, Christine was terrified herself because she couldn't gauge his reaction. Would he push her away? Would he hurt her? Christine had to find out as she slowly pulled the obtrusive, leather mask from his face. Erik sucked in a breath and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the shock on Christine's face.

Christine made no sound as she looked at his marred face. His right eyebrow was completely gone and the skin on the right side of his face looked as if it had been burned away and re-patched clumsily. She traced the wrinkled skin and Erik shuddered at her warm touch. The bridge of his nose was sunken on the right side; Christine traced that too until her fingertips landed on his perfect mouth. His lips trembled and Christine kissed them softly as she tried to relay the emotions that she felt towards him in that moment.

When Erik opened his eyes, he was expecting Christine to look disgusted but only love and adoration shaped the expression on her angelic face. It may have been enough to hide his fear of rejection but he had never known unconditional love like this even while his parents were living. Erik felt exposed; terrified.

A moment had passed between them and Christine acted quickly, joining her lips with his in a firmer, more passionate kiss than the one they had previously shared. Her abrupt movements caused Erik to fall backwards and Christine straddled his lower abdomen. Erik felt dizzy with his desire for Christine's body and his reflexive need to cower away, thinking that Christine was only doing this for him because of pity. He could barely feel the soft tug on his boxers that were being removed from his body and one look on Christine's face told him that she was ready. Erik looked down between them and saw that if one of them moved in anyway, his manhood would spear through her innocence and they would finally be joined in passion.

Christine locked her eyes upon Erik's as she bit her lip and began moving her body down on him. The tip of his member was pressing into her hot and wet entrance and it slowly slid in. They both hissed before Erik realized that this was all wrong.

" Ungh. Wait, don't," Erik simply said, raising Christine from her current position and placing her on the bed beside him. He averted his eyes, knowing that he couldn't bear to see just how much he had hurt her.

"What's wrong?" Her voice quivered, and Erik fought hard with his own, daring it to betray him.

"This isn't right. I-I will lose control with you," Erik couldn't think of any other excuse as he fumbled for his mask that was lost in the bed sheets.

"Your _fucking_ control?" Erik had never heard Christine swear before and hearing it now only hurt him more. He wanted this, but he couldn't bring himself to trust it. Christine covered her body with the blanket, suddenly very self-conscious. She looked at him as he quickly replaced his mask before directly looking at her. And then it dawned on her.

"I don't believe this." Christine got up from the bed and began putting on her clothes.

"Christine, what are you doing?"

"It isn't your control! It never fucking was!" She screamed on the top her lungs as she hooked her bra on.

"What are you talk—,"

"Don't give me that! You just—you just can't accept that finally someone else loves you. You're so self-absorbed in your pity that you forget that maybe, just _maybe_ someone can love you again! Do you realize how much I—,"

"It isn't that," Erik tried to say, more to himself than to her.

"It is! You are afraid of rejection! I thought that we would be through with this. I took your mask off and guess what Erik, _I still love you!_" Christine's voice broke there. She had all her clothes on and then she walked over to Erik. She held his face in her hands and pressed her forehead against his. Tears were spilling down Erik's face but he didn't know whose they were.

"I can't do this knowing that you are afraid that you will hurt me, or I'll leave you after because we both know I won't." Christine stroked the available skin on Erik's face and he felt everything crumble. Then Christine walked out of the room, grabbing her keys and bag on her way out.

Erik knew that there wouldn't be any good in following her but he broke all the rules already so why should now be any different?

"What the hell am I doing?" Erik said to himself as he realized that he _did_ know that Christine loved him. He really was just afraid of rejection that afterwards, she would leave him because of his ruined face. But it wasn't his face that was destroyed. No, now he realized that all along, his _soul_ had been the damage in him and he couldn't bring himself to realize that Christine was healing him.

As quickly as he could, Erik threw on his clothes and chased after Christine. She was on the elevator so Erik ran down the emergency stairwell with his epiphany brightly leading the way down the dark stairs. He bolted through the swinging doors of the reception hall and saw Christine getting into her Vios.

"Christine!" Erik shouted, not caring if she heard him or not. In his stupidity, he forgot to grab his car keys and shoes but he ran after Christine anyways. It was only until she turned out of the street that he stopped running, knowing that he had lost her.

Erik crouched in the middle of the street, sobbing and gripping his hair tightly. Then a loud sound of metal crashing and rubber squealing seared Erik's ears and stopped his heart from beating…

…before someone else's did.

* * *

now _that_ was review-worthy. gee i wonder how many more chapters i have to go before this ends. stick around to find out! =)


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